Sunday, September 23, 2007
this weekend
RUGBY !!! went to Nakuru Rugby Club to see teams from all over the country come to compete in a two day long tournament, saw some really good play
Vanessa's birthday- Vanessa is Karanga (our rep here in kenya)'s daughter who turned 9 on saturday, mayhem of kids milling afound- i think such occasions are the same all over the globe! (cake came from nairobi but still wasnt a patch on yours mum!)
sunday- went to church with a new friend from work and her sisters- the service lasted 3 and a half hours, Lea did tell me that is was long today but still, 2 hours preaching!!! i went for lunch at hers which was an eye opener, they all stay in one room- that is three sisters and one of the sisters babies, in the room is a bunkbed, tv, sofa and chair, coffee table, computer (one of them works selling secondhand computers from the uk-it is not of corse connected to internet) there is also a munute "kitchen" (sink really as things have to be cooked outside- there is no stove) and another small "room" with only a toilet that is a flushing hole in the floor such as they have in japan and a bucket of water for flushing.
but there are SO welcoming! and share everything that they have. money really is not the cause of happiness
Vanessa's birthday- Vanessa is Karanga (our rep here in kenya)'s daughter who turned 9 on saturday, mayhem of kids milling afound- i think such occasions are the same all over the globe! (cake came from nairobi but still wasnt a patch on yours mum!)
sunday- went to church with a new friend from work and her sisters- the service lasted 3 and a half hours, Lea did tell me that is was long today but still, 2 hours preaching!!! i went for lunch at hers which was an eye opener, they all stay in one room- that is three sisters and one of the sisters babies, in the room is a bunkbed, tv, sofa and chair, coffee table, computer (one of them works selling secondhand computers from the uk-it is not of corse connected to internet) there is also a munute "kitchen" (sink really as things have to be cooked outside- there is no stove) and another small "room" with only a toilet that is a flushing hole in the floor such as they have in japan and a bucket of water for flushing.
but there are SO welcoming! and share everything that they have. money really is not the cause of happiness
my day
7 am get up and wash with a bucket of water heated on the stove (or the coal fire outside if the gas is down) or wash my hair under the cold tap
7.15 have breakfast- if im lucky there will be pinapple- SO superior here but more often banana
7.30 leave the house- it takes around 45 minutes now for me to walk to work, (i am getting faster!) and change there. walk is mainly alond a dirt road. the sun is not too hot at this hour so it is a nice walk- unlike during the middle of the day
8.30 start work, cleaning for the fiirst hour, then talk to patients, ask nurses if there is anything that needs doing...
10.30ish have tea, it is made in the kitchen any brought to us in flasks, Makumi and i normally have it in her office or with peter in the lab. it is a completly different take on the idea of tea- very milky and very sugary, now i am an adict even though at the begining of the week i couldnt stand the stuff. and eat a 'dot com' or 'mendazi' wich are different types of fried dough that can be bought outside the nrsing home fropm stree\t sellers for around 5KSH (3p)
for the rest of the morning there might be some patients who come into outpatients who i will help mukami with, generally smile at babies, occupy kids... or i will go to the wards and talk to patients there or go the the lab and learn from peter abou how the investigations on patients are going.
1 have lunch- went into town on friday yesterday to post letters- took me 45 minutes in the heat, was not fun so wont be doing that again! i have been reading a french book so might do that or watch neighbours with the nurses who are all adicts.
afternon, more of the same and leave at 5pm to walk home
we eat dinner at 8ish with Nancy who has kindly refraned from preparing ugali so far... we eat in front of the tv which i dont like for three reasons- we get to knoew nancy less well, the tv is rubbish and i feel tired and just want to sleep on the sofa when im done with her enormous portions!
i generaly go to bed early as have been tired. but do of course write my travel diary first. and carefully fit the mozi net.
7.15 have breakfast- if im lucky there will be pinapple- SO superior here but more often banana
7.30 leave the house- it takes around 45 minutes now for me to walk to work, (i am getting faster!) and change there. walk is mainly alond a dirt road. the sun is not too hot at this hour so it is a nice walk- unlike during the middle of the day
8.30 start work, cleaning for the fiirst hour, then talk to patients, ask nurses if there is anything that needs doing...
10.30ish have tea, it is made in the kitchen any brought to us in flasks, Makumi and i normally have it in her office or with peter in the lab. it is a completly different take on the idea of tea- very milky and very sugary, now i am an adict even though at the begining of the week i couldnt stand the stuff. and eat a 'dot com' or 'mendazi' wich are different types of fried dough that can be bought outside the nrsing home fropm stree\t sellers for around 5KSH (3p)
for the rest of the morning there might be some patients who come into outpatients who i will help mukami with, generally smile at babies, occupy kids... or i will go to the wards and talk to patients there or go the the lab and learn from peter abou how the investigations on patients are going.
1 have lunch- went into town on friday yesterday to post letters- took me 45 minutes in the heat, was not fun so wont be doing that again! i have been reading a french book so might do that or watch neighbours with the nurses who are all adicts.
afternon, more of the same and leave at 5pm to walk home
we eat dinner at 8ish with Nancy who has kindly refraned from preparing ugali so far... we eat in front of the tv which i dont like for three reasons- we get to knoew nancy less well, the tv is rubbish and i feel tired and just want to sleep on the sofa when im done with her enormous portions!
i generaly go to bed early as have been tired. but do of course write my travel diary first. and carefully fit the mozi net.
Nakuru Nursing Home
so what is the hospital like?
clean- i make sure of that (my main activity is cleaning- dust is everywhere here) but horibly out of date by western standards. for example the fact that there is no internet in the whole place. there is no loo roll in the toilets, taps often dont work, power cuts are frequent and ther is a typewriter.
but all of this seems irrelevant here as the care is great and what does it really matter if the paint is chipped?
there is an outpatients clinic where i am positioned with Makumi, we mainly see mothers coming to weigh their babies and for jabs, there is a pharmacy, lab, office, accounts, radiology equip[ment (very clean as i dusted it all morning on friday- can tell from being there that it is seldome used), wards and a kitchen and cleaning area outside. oh and almost all the food that the patients recieve is cooked from the crops grown onsite- it is a big site dispite being situated so close to the centre of town.
clean- i make sure of that (my main activity is cleaning- dust is everywhere here) but horibly out of date by western standards. for example the fact that there is no internet in the whole place. there is no loo roll in the toilets, taps often dont work, power cuts are frequent and ther is a typewriter.
but all of this seems irrelevant here as the care is great and what does it really matter if the paint is chipped?
there is an outpatients clinic where i am positioned with Makumi, we mainly see mothers coming to weigh their babies and for jabs, there is a pharmacy, lab, office, accounts, radiology equip[ment (very clean as i dusted it all morning on friday- can tell from being there that it is seldome used), wards and a kitchen and cleaning area outside. oh and almost all the food that the patients recieve is cooked from the crops grown onsite- it is a big site dispite being situated so close to the centre of town.
first week as a working woman...
so i am at the end of my first full working week and it feels great! i have been working alongside a lovely nurse called Mukami who has been SO welcoming, as have the other nurses. it has been great to make friends and get stuck into the community a bit more.
on the downside (well it depends how one looks at it!) there is not actually that much work to be done as Nakuru Nursing Home is a private hospital (deciving from the name- they dont actually have nursing homes in the same way as we do in the UK for old people) and there are only about 6 patients at the moment. this is due to
a) the fact that people dont have that much money around here
b) the government has been making more and more treatment free in the general hospital and c) there are so many small private hospitals in the area.
so although workwise i am not exactly rushed off my feet it has been a fantasic opportunity this week to talk to people and get in touch with the way of life.
there have been some occasions where the job has really felt worthwhile like seeing a newborn baby recover from jaundice and being able to hold her in my arms at only 6days old! she smiles as well! so i was happy ALL day :-) her name is Lydia and her grandmother said i simply MUST come and visit them- that is something that i have been inundated with this week- invites to peoples houses- many of which i will take up, others of which i will not (young men in the street for example!)
another was seeing a man recover from a stomach opporation, the first time i spoke to him he wasnt really communicative but by the end of the week, with some persistance on my part he said that i was most welcome. even through it is only in a very minor way it feels great to be helping even just a few people.
and breaking down some of the barriers and expectations about visitors to kenya.
on the downside (well it depends how one looks at it!) there is not actually that much work to be done as Nakuru Nursing Home is a private hospital (deciving from the name- they dont actually have nursing homes in the same way as we do in the UK for old people) and there are only about 6 patients at the moment. this is due to
a) the fact that people dont have that much money around here
b) the government has been making more and more treatment free in the general hospital and c) there are so many small private hospitals in the area.
so although workwise i am not exactly rushed off my feet it has been a fantasic opportunity this week to talk to people and get in touch with the way of life.
there have been some occasions where the job has really felt worthwhile like seeing a newborn baby recover from jaundice and being able to hold her in my arms at only 6days old! she smiles as well! so i was happy ALL day :-) her name is Lydia and her grandmother said i simply MUST come and visit them- that is something that i have been inundated with this week- invites to peoples houses- many of which i will take up, others of which i will not (young men in the street for example!)
another was seeing a man recover from a stomach opporation, the first time i spoke to him he wasnt really communicative but by the end of the week, with some persistance on my part he said that i was most welcome. even through it is only in a very minor way it feels great to be helping even just a few people.
and breaking down some of the barriers and expectations about visitors to kenya.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Where I'm staying
I'm now settled in to my host family in Nakuru, the town where im spending six months volunteering. im partnered with another girl from England called Becky, can get confusing as my name i have shortened to B for the time being while i am here as Bronwen is too hard for the locals to pronounce so we both have the B part but oh well!
Nancy our host mother is fairly quiet but very well meaning and a good host mother apart from her strong desire to fatten us up 'as we Kenyans like to eat!' she says with every meal- i did try saying that however i am not actually Kenyan and wont look any more like one no matter how big the portions are! But her cooking is good and she looks after us well, even bought a new mozzi net for my bed when my small single bed one didn't fit on the larger bed (larger luxurious bed i hear you say- well yes it is big but very saggy!)
We share a room with THE most fantastic view over lake Nakuru, the brightness of the pink flamingos can be clearly seen from our window, in that sense we really are living in luxury.
We have a maid who sometimes brings her oh-so-cute baby daughter to work with her, we don't mention this to Nancy though as we are not sure if she is aloud to... it did bother us asking her to wash our clothes at first but we figured that Nancy is paying her and that means that she has an income of some sort to feed her child, she can only be my age and lives in the poorer parts of town. Her English is limited but now she will look us in the face and smile sometimes.
Nancy's Husband David works away from Nakuru during the week on a building project I'm not sure where but he is back at weekends and is very lively and chatty.
They have four children, two girls and two boys two of which are at boarding school and two of which are at university so for the moment we have not met them. the younger two will be back at half term so then we shall have a chance to feel more part of the family. one thing that really strikes me here is the way we don't eat family meals at home around a table- that was something that i always took for granted in Cambridge and quite miss now! but that is just a family thing not a Kenyan thing as many of the others have volunteers have meals around a table with their hosts.
bron xxx
Nancy our host mother is fairly quiet but very well meaning and a good host mother apart from her strong desire to fatten us up 'as we Kenyans like to eat!' she says with every meal- i did try saying that however i am not actually Kenyan and wont look any more like one no matter how big the portions are! But her cooking is good and she looks after us well, even bought a new mozzi net for my bed when my small single bed one didn't fit on the larger bed (larger luxurious bed i hear you say- well yes it is big but very saggy!)
We share a room with THE most fantastic view over lake Nakuru, the brightness of the pink flamingos can be clearly seen from our window, in that sense we really are living in luxury.
We have a maid who sometimes brings her oh-so-cute baby daughter to work with her, we don't mention this to Nancy though as we are not sure if she is aloud to... it did bother us asking her to wash our clothes at first but we figured that Nancy is paying her and that means that she has an income of some sort to feed her child, she can only be my age and lives in the poorer parts of town. Her English is limited but now she will look us in the face and smile sometimes.
Nancy's Husband David works away from Nakuru during the week on a building project I'm not sure where but he is back at weekends and is very lively and chatty.
They have four children, two girls and two boys two of which are at boarding school and two of which are at university so for the moment we have not met them. the younger two will be back at half term so then we shall have a chance to feel more part of the family. one thing that really strikes me here is the way we don't eat family meals at home around a table- that was something that i always took for granted in Cambridge and quite miss now! but that is just a family thing not a Kenyan thing as many of the others have volunteers have meals around a table with their hosts.
bron xxx
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