running in circles, chasing our tails

huge apologies to those of you wondering where I’ve dropped off the face of the earth to, it has been so long since I’ve written an update.

to be honest, it’s because I haven’t had lots to write home about. I mean, I could’ve easily written about the severe diarrhoea I’ve had off an on for the past couple of weeks and the very intimate relationship I’ve had with the toilets in my house (sorry, oversharing is caring), but I’m pretty sure that’s not what you want to read about. bit just a little on that topic, this is now my sixth month in africa, and seventh month away from home, I can’t believe I’m still dealing with such a temperamental stomach. someone please remind me to enquire about an entire gastrointestinal transplant when I get home. one of my friends I made volunteering in kenya, richard (who’s a fellow aussie), uploaded an instagram picture and used the quote “used my butt as a trumpet filled with soup” when he and a mate were sick. it couldn’t be more true.

okay sorry, enough ‘toilet talk’. but being sick and confined to either my bed or a toilet has made time absolutely fly – I’ve already been in tanzania for a month now.

for a couple of my weekends here, I’ve spent my saturdays helping a really lovely girl alice, from england, help build a new house for a mama she met here in arusha when first volunteering in 2010. I got in contact with her through the tanzania volunteer group on a facebook when I was still in kenya as she was asking if anyone wanted to help out on their spare weekends. figuring I’d have not much else to do when I’m not at work, I let her know I’d be keen. long story short, I’ve been for two of the saturdays that I’ve been in tanzania helping with whatever needs help with at the house. god it is strenuous work, I don’t know how alice has been doing it at least six days a week for the last five or so weeks. incredible.
things we’ve helped to do include excavating existing dirt and clay that was piled up after digging the 12m hole for the squat toilet, hacking away at the existing clay retaining wall behind the new house, scrape off concrete from the newly installed doors and window frames, sanding down said doors and window frames with a piece of sandpaper and a machete and a steel wire brush, painting the doors and window frames… it has been amazing to be a small part of such a huge project. click here to check out alice’s website for a much more detailed re-cap of all she’s achieved.

work at my clinic has still been quite interesting, including a day of working solely with a midwife doing fundal height measurements and listening for a heartbeat with an archaic tool that looks like a funnel, as well as spending time doing ‘growth and monitoring’ on bubs, which occurs every month until about the age of 4 years. it’s a bloody great system – they have a scale suspended from the ceiling (like you see in the fruit and veggie shop) and all the mothers hand make these little jumpsuit things that has a loop that hooks onto the scale, so their bub is suspended (which most of the kids hate) but it’s fast, efficient and easy. I’d then record their weight on a brochure like piece of paper and any serious abnormalities compared to the last time they were weighed, I had to report to the midwife. luckily there were no bubs on this day who were malnourished or weighed significantly less than they did a month prior. africa might be behind in a lot of things, but this is advanced to the max.
also gave polio, tetanus, and rotavirus meds/injections to newborns and as much as it was awful making them cry, at least these kids are getting vaccinated like we all were.

I really love living at the volunteer house now, obviously I didn’t when I first got here, but it’s buckets of fun and the bunch of people living here now are a great group and we all get along really well. just took a bit of getting used to living with 20+ other people. it’s so nice coming home to friends asking how your day was, as well as asking how everyone else’s days were. we all have such different experiences at our respective workplaces. I would love to visit a couple of orphanages while I’m here, apparently they’re really well orchestrated here in arusha – including a baby orphanage that I’m really looking forward to hopefully visiting.
also couldn’t be happier that I decided to buy a ukulele when I was in germany, it’s getting a good workout here in tanzania – sitting around the outside fire pit of an evening with a few beers having a singalong is probably my idea of heaven… glad there’s a scottish bloke called iain who is more than happy to join in so I’m not singing all alone. we’ve treated everyone to a rendition of “the four chord song” by axis of awesome (you should youtube it) and added extra songs in as well. but it’s making me really miss my guitar.

okay i guess now that I’ve written all that, I did have stuff to write home about. apologies for being slack.

it’s hard to believe I’m on the home stretch now, about 5 weeks until I’m back on australian soil. christmas looks like it will be loads of fun here, about 10 or so other volunteers spending the holiday in arusha – see what happens when it arrives! can’t believe I got to africa on the 30th of june and now it’s december. if anyone needs a reminder of how fast time goes, do volunteer work… it flies.

now my feet won’t touch the ground

getting to tanzania was an experience, to say the least. with my emotions already shot to buggery, I got the bus from nairobi, kenya to arusha, tanzania. getting out of kenya and into tanzania with new visas etc. was actually pretty easy and self explanatory (thank god because there was no one to help explain anything); until we got a flat tyre, didn’t have a spare and waited almost 45mins for our drivers mate to come and save the day with his spare tyre. in the desert, under the blazing sun. dis is africa.

how many Africans does it take to change a bus tyre?

arrived at the bus stop in arusha and called angella, one of the directors of TVE (tanzanian volunteer experience, the equivalent of NVS in kenya), to let her know I’d arrived. someone was there to pick me up in about 15mins, but not before a million guys come up to me greeting me with ‘mambo!’, which is kind of like ‘what’s up?’ and then asking if I need a taxi ride. so now that I’m totally fluent in kiswahili (that is such a lie, but I’m better than the volunteers who also started with me in my orientation here), I respond with ‘poa sana’ which kind of means ‘not much, everything’s good’… sorta kinda. that made these guys think I was fluent; they kept asking if I was a kenyan, I was like mate do I look like a bloody kenyan? I’m not that dark. until I realised it was my kenyan bracelet that was giving it away, now I have a tanzanian one as well – just to confuse people. anyway these guys started chatting to me in swahili – yeah nah mate, I can say hey and what’s up, and I can understand a bit but don’t get me to speak it back. it would take years for me to get that good.

got picked up by a guy called jimmy and a woman called aichi, who turns out to be the house manager of the volunteer house I’m staying in, in sakina, arusha. there was a guy from the US, matt, already in the car as well as a girl from israel, arielle, who just got released from the army. we picked up another guy from spain, pepe, and then all got taken to our respective volunteer houses. this is so unbelievably different to my kenyan experience; the house I’m staying in is called ‘new new house’ and fark me, it’s a modern mansion! sleeps about 30 people plus the two house mamas and our house manager, hot showers that don’t give you an electric shock, flushing toilets with supplied toilet paper, supplied drinking water, really cool outdoor living area, we get served three meals a day every day, there’s no curfew, there’s no rules on alcohol… incredibly different to living with my host family in kenya. but not necessarily better. more on that after.

my room, sleeps 14

the boys doing some DIY BBQ meat

the new new volunteer house – bigger and more modern than my home in australia

thursdays in arusha are what they call ‘social night’, where all volunteers can go and have a huge BBQ dinner at the old house (meaning that it was the first volunteer house TVE had, since then they’ve now got two more, including new house and new new house, which is mine). because TVE volunteers are only placed in arusha, it’s pretty easy for everyone to come together and to get picked up from wherever they’re staying. maybe about 35-40 volunteers in total had dinner, everyone sitting outside and hanging out. now I’m really looking forward to this every week because I’ve met some awesome people who I don’t live with, that I’ll now see each thursday (plus the dinner is amazing, last week I ate so much I felt sick… that’s what I’m like now, I see delicious food and I can’t stop myself. that’s what eating unexciting bland carbs for 4 months does to ya!)

it was so weird being on the other side of what I normally am; in kenya, I was that volunteer who knew all the tips and tricks and could give the advice because I’d been there so long. whereas this time, I was eagerly listening for anything that could help out in this slightly familiar yet really strange place. there are also some lovely girls from new zealand though, especially rebecca and savannah…. there’s just something about people from that part of the world. wink wink.

friday was my orientation day, and that was so bloody different to my last orientation. my kenyan july 1 orientation had 99 volunteers, my tanzanian november 1 orientation had only 9 volunteers. ha, how times change. the orientation was different to what I was used to in kenya as well; while I should have only gone to one (my own), anna and I ended up going to about 3 or 4 as we were trying to organise our medical camp and chat to marcus about it. no singing “jambo bwana” at this orientation in tanzania and the staff of TVE are all women, some of the new things in this new country. did a walk around the city, tried to get my bearings but lord knows it will probably take my entire time here to feel as comfortable as I eventually did in nairobi.

I feel really nostalgic to my time in kenya, in the grand scheme of life it was only 4 months but it seemed like a lifetime almost. when I was brought to the volunteer house on thursday afternoon, one of the volunteers told me about a girl who came to arusha after being in kenya for 2 weeks, stayed here in arusha all of 24hrs before going straight back to kenya. being completely honest, I’d by lying if the thought of that didn’t excite me. my first couple of days here I really struggled. I think it was a combination of loving what I was doing in kenya as well as loving the people I spent my time with. I know moving to a new place is daunting, and while part of my struggle to assimilate was due to that, a lot of it was because it wasn’t kenya. I’d become so used to living in a slum, to having a shower that gives me an electric shock, to walking down my dirt road to school every day, to avoiding ugali night at home, to sneaking in bottles of wine to my house where alcohol wasn’t allowed – and then finally graduating to just going down to the closeby bar mixing with the locals for beers, to fending for & protecting myself in a way I’ve not had to before, to finally learning the kids names at school (over 50 kids in 4 months, it’s no easy feat). I spoke to mum and dad over the weekend who reckon I’m going through culture shock, which sounds like a bloody joke as I’ve only moved down one african country. but it makes sense. I might still be in africa but tanzania seems like ‘the ritz’ compared to the budget hotel that kenya is… and I’m all about the ‘budget hotels’. I knew it would be difficult once I got home, just not this soon!
but now it’s time for a new experience, as much as I miss kenya I know I’ll be back there and back with the kids before I know it.

next posts – random thoughts over the past few weeks as well as my new workplace here in tanzania, the kijenge RC (roman catholic) dispensary and the weird medical stuff I’ve already seen in my first week. the new part of my adventure has started, and it’s actually medical. #nursinginafrica

there must be sunshine beyond that rain

finally finished all of the children’s profiles this morning, here’s a sneak peak at one…

christabelle, a beautiful three year old girl whose mother was 14 when she gave birth and passed away. she loves colouring and skipping rope. when she grows up, she just wants to be smiling.

have a look at little ray of hope school under ‘our children’ to see all of the profiles on our kids. it’s so hard reading some of their stories, but these kids are so resilient and each one deserves the whole world.

and I keep dancing on my own

as my time in kenya is coming to a close, I’ve been thinking about everything that’s happened in the past four months.

and I have to say, for living in the same country since june 30, it’s been pretty bloody eventful. started with working at a family planning clinic but that didn’t work out as planned, had my wallet stolen, the nairobi airport burnt down, did a two day outreach to the garbage slum and two IDP (internally displaced persons) camps, rode a bike down through hells gate and saw the real life ‘pride rock’, moved to working out of a clinic where we’d go testing people for HIV in the surrounding slums, went on safari, was shown a school for HIV infected and affected kids, kept working at said school, recognised how much help this school needed to get back on their feet, created a new website for them and starting child sponsorship opportunities for these kids, experienced a terrorist attack 15 minutes up the road and was scared to leave the house for a couple of days, have become incredibly close to my youngest host sister vicky, dealt with a toilet that doesn’t flush properly and a shower that electric shocks you every single time you touch the tap, worked at three medical camps (four as of this coming saturday) and given checkups to as well as treated over 1000 patients on those three separate days, went on a day trip to the equator and hiked down a waterfall and up an old volcano, become very used to being home before dark and/or strapping on a pair if I’m out and about when it’s getting dark, copped many wedding proposals and even been asked to be a mans second wife (don’t know if that’s a compliment or not), got used to people staring at you when you walk down the street, met some really insane and some really amazing people, had three people shot and killed outside of our compound one night a couple of weeks ago, been referred to as my host mums eldest daughter, had my heart broken numerous times since being here but worst of all when a four year old girl at ‘little ray of hope’ received a positive HIV test result, was knocked off a motorbike when hit by a car, had my phone stolen, laughed about a gang of kenyans failing miserably to distract me and steal things from my bag in a matatu etc etc etc.

the biggest lesson I’ve learnt here is that things don’t always turn out the way you expect. and you know what? that’s not a bad thing. particularly as a volunteer, you have to be open to work where you’re needed, and that’s most likely to be not where you expected. if you come to a country like kenya and try and impose changes you thought of at home before assessing the need when you get to the country, you won’t get very far. things happen so differently here. if I really had’ve kicked up a stink when I first got to kenya about my first placement being shit, it’s highly likely I wouldn’t be where I am now, wouldn’t have met the people I have, wouldn’t be working where I am, wouldn’t have helped the people I have. and who cares that I came to kenya thinking I’d do a shit ton of medical work and the fact that it didn’t happen that way. turns out my medical skills haven’t been needed as much as general willingness to help out wherever I can. that the last month or so have knocked me for six and really tested my technology skills making the website for little ray of hope is so not what I thought I’d do. that I’ve become a somewhat ‘spokesperson’ for these kids to any visitors who come along is so not what I thought I’d do. that a bunch of kids can make my heart burst with absolute love and adoration, it must be the feeling parents have.

I almost wish I wasn’t going moving countries now, as much as I’m looking forward to a change in scenery, it would be great to stay here to see out the year for these kids. but there might be something similar waiting for me in arusha, tanzania. who knows.

so if any of you guys who read my blog want to volunteer – wherever it may be in the world – to make a real difference you have to be prepared to do anything and everything. I haven’t changed the world, but I have helped start to change the lives of 53 beautiful kids who deserve the entire world, and then some.

it’s always darkest before the dawn

dusk; maasai mara

I had a lovely taxi driver last week who, after hearing about my ‘run in’ with the car, asked me about the best and worst parts of volunteering in his country. the best? seeing the smiles on children’s faces when you give them something as small as a lollipop or even rice for lunch. the worst? not the fact that I was hit by a car, but saying goodbye to all the incredible volunteers I’ve been fortunate enough to meet over the past three months in kenya.

saying goodbye is never easy, and even from my time in europe in june, I’ve had to say goodbye to more people than I’ve probably ever had to say goodbye to. maybe since I finished high school. I guess I should probably clarify that I don’t mean ‘on the death bed’ goodbye; I mean meeting people who you get on so well with and then are likely to not see again, or at least not for a long time. it’s kinda the bittersweet part of travelling, I’ve learnt that on my previous trips overseas. but I would argue that volunteering and meeting other like-minded people makes it even harder. because we’re all (well, mostly all) here to make a small difference, to brighten someone’s day, to make someone smile. at least, I am. and I’ve met countless others who are too.

if I listed all the people I’ve hugged, waved off or helped with their bags as they climb into the taxi, I’d be here all day… and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say it would be in the hundreds. I’ve cried only once (bloody susie) , but have been teary on many more occasions. meeting people from all around the world, like I have for the past 4 months, means having so many more contacts for future travel experiences. it started at the end of my tour in turkey – when the rest of the group continued on to cappadocia while I went back to istanbul – and the latest is just this morning, when I waved off michael and alyce, two of the greatest aussies I’ve met, no topic is too gross or too over share-y with those two. and I’m so glad I’ll see them again in a couple of weeks when they briefly come back from uganda.

but I’m richer for having met everyone I’ve met. you learn something new, you learn to appreciate things more – like people you actually get along with. I certainly haven’t clicked with everyone, sometimes you meet people and wonder what the bloody hell they’re doing in a country like kenya – “oh my god, the toilet, it like, so doesn’t flush properly”, “the floor is so dirty, seriously, what’s with that?”, “we have to supply our own toilet paper? what the hell?!”, “oh my god, the electricity is off again? how do I charge my phone now?”… I’m not kidding, people have said these things. a) you’re lucky there even is a flushing toilet, b) you’re lucky it’s not a dirt floor and c) you’re lucky to even have electricity in the first place! fark me, some people.

I still hate goodbyes. I’m dreading saying goodbye to the kids at ‘little ray of hope’ and I’m dreading saying goodbye to my host sisters (who now snuggle with me on the couch of an evening). only one month left in kenya before tanzania – time flies when you’re working hard and having fun.

leaning now into the breeze

thoughts, part II.

that there have been 12 confirmed cases of polio this month in kenya alone, and one confirmed death of a child who succumbed to polio. what? how can we live so comfortably in our country because a disease has been eradicated, yet not even all the way over on the other side of the world, children have died from it. now. in 2013. this is what upsets me, seeing the absolute injustice of healthcare across the world.

I will never get sick of driving down a highway and casually passing a herd of zebras. it’s magical.

the longer I’m in kenya, the more I’m convinced its just melbourne but further away. the weather here is ridiculous. I’m changing outfits more than twice a day because its freezing of a morning, the sun comes out and I start sweating balls, then the afternoon may bring a thunderstorm and then we get tropical. hardly feels like I’ve left home at all.

I went to church last sunday (which was incredible in its own right and will probably get its own post) but the term “sunday best” is very true here. people might wear their rags during the week, but they have the most incredible and colourful outfits they wear to church. it’s pretty awesome. I still believe that god doesn’t care what you wear, but it’s a matter of pride here, which I love. kenyans are full of pride and aren’t afraid to express it. maybe that’s why I love it here, because I’m so proud to be australian and I love people who are proud of where they come from & don’t try to hide it.

I’ve had more marriage proposals in kenya than I can count. I was counting in my first month but stopped when I could no longer keep track. having men hit on me in australia is a rare event, in fact I wouldn’t even be able to recognise if they were, it happens that infrequently. but here, it’s at least a daily occurance. I was walking home the other day and had a man call out “hey sister, you are very sexy” and I actually laughed out loud. kenyan men put themselves out there, which I have to give them credit for. I do have a bad habit of laughing always at the wrong times, and now that can be extended to when I’m being hit on.

communication is so important in a country like kenya. even in the slums, you’ll find the poorest of people with a mobile phone. I was shocked, initially, thinking that how could they justify having a mobile phone when they can hardly afford any other basic daily requirements. I’ve slowly observed and learnt that family is a big deal in kenya. and I love that. that being able to communicate with your family is so much more important than maybe eating that third meal that day. without your family, what do you have?

I have never once in my life used earplugs, at least not that I can remember. but here, they are a godsend. they stop me waking from the constant howling of dogs throughout the night, from the screaming preachers who start their spiels at 5am, from the roosters crowing and the matatu horns blasting.

my host sisters singing this song to me “mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb. mary had a little lamb, it was as white as victoria”.

during high school, I dreamt of the day I could fluently speak french. or any language fluently other than english. well I came close, but never quite made it. but the urge to be able to speak swahili is so much stronger. the inability to properly communicate with everyone in a country you visit is infuriating. while most people here speak fantastic english, the further out from nairobi you get, the less and less they speak.

my new friend, sierra from the US, said something on our way to the naivasha medical camp that really struck me. “people at home have everything and yet they fight over nothing”.

all I have I will give to you

nakuru medical camp.

what a day. I honestly don’t think I’ve been that exhausted since one of my last shifts as a paramedic student after working a solid 14/15 hour shift. and that was in a first world country.

the camp itself was the ‘baby’ of fellow volunteer lindsay who is a nurse from the US and had been in nakuru (a pretty large town/almost a city outside of nairobi by about 3 hours) for a few weeks. the pastor she’d been staying with has set up programs for the people who live at the gioto garbage slum and is well known and respected in nakuru, so he helped set up the camp with her – and by ‘help set up the camp’, I mean he organised everything and used her money to do so. it’s hard being here and wanting to organise things because – obviously – not being able to speak kiswahili makes things a little difficult.

so me and two other volunteers headed to nakuru from nairobi on tuesday afternoon via matatu, which was officially the longest matatu trip I’ve taken; was the point I was at my absolute snottiest and sickest, and I couldn’t even breathe out of my nose. so the poor two kenyan souls I was sitting next too are now probably as sick as I was then. thats how small the vans are. arriving in nakuru at the matatu stop past 7pm when it was dark wasn’t exactly my idea of fun and didn’t exactly encourage the feeling of 100% safety, but we were picked up pretty quickly.

that night we organised the ‘paperwork’ for the next day, which included tearing A3 sized paper into quarters and each patient would receive a piece which would eventually have their name, their vitals, their chief complaint, their diagnosis and what drugs were required. not the extensive documentation process I’m used to, and it’s bloody sweet. none of that “ooh you better document every little thing the patient says/does/breathes just incase of a lawsuit down the track”.

the next morning we were up bright and early for the camp. it was relatively disorganised to start with however once things got rolling, we saw upwards of 700 patients that day. words to describe it; exhausting, tiring, humbling, educative, chaotic, daunting, headache-worthy, but amazing.
we’d been separated into the different stations; registration, vital signs (including BP, temp & weight), adult doctor, paeds doctor, neonatal doctor, HIV testing and pharmacy. there were 8 of us volunteers, 3 of which were nurses so we were to work with the doctors. I was with the adult doctor, although in true african fashion, nothing was organised and none of the doctors had separate specialties so patients sat patiently and waited to see one of the three. initially there weren’t enough chairs for us nurses to sit next to the doctors so I was floating around with the people helping take vital signs, realising pretty soon that we couldn’t take temperatures without a thermometer, so the pastor went off to buy more medication and supplies and comes back with three oral thermometers, because that’s all the place had. excellent, how do we take the temperature of over 700 people efficiently but still hygienically? one of the other nurses had the genius suggestion of ripping off the fingers of gloves. what a legend. I will totally be using that as an example of “tell us about a time you had to improvise…” for my paramedic interview next year.
“well, this one time in africa, I was volunteering in a medical camp and…”

you can sort of see the glove tip at the end of the thermometer

doing the extensive documentation required… on a scrap piece of paper

the vital signs section with kyle, a medical assistant, and wanika, a biology student.

jenny, a psychology student at the pharmacy

checking out what the pharmacy had to offer

so many different ailments and problems came through the camp, people with generalised coughs, sniffles and a whole lot of problems that they had probably had for quite some time but had been waiting/hoping/praying for a free medical camp. the three nurses, me included, were sitting with the doctors and were helping diagnose patients through the symptoms they described. however a few people where seriously sick and had to be taken to the local hospital, pretty quick smart. a beautiful little 6 month old baby had a fever of 39.8 celcius with a distended tummy (I took her temperature, got a bit worried so encouraged them to the front of the line to see the doctor), turns out the poor bub hadn’t pooed for 4 days. the beautiful little girl had a probable umbilical hernia and needed surgery. sadly her mum was the one to convince as she had no money and was worried about the hospital fees. somehow someone convinced her that it could be taken care of later but she really needed to get her baby to the hospital. just one example that shows how different life is here. when I did my shifts at the royal children’s emergency department, mothers (and some fathers) were bringing in their bratty toddlers with just a bloody runny nose… how I wish I could somehow make people at home who really need a wakeup call come step into these people’s shoes just for a day. they don’t know how lucky they’ve got it.

one really ridiculous patient came through stating that his eyes won’t stop watering, especially when he wakes of a morning and when he looks at light. the doctor was sure he had a kind of viral conjunctivitis – very common in the slums (which is where we were). so she prescribed not one, but two types of antibiotics. what?! I’ve already stated how much it frustrates me when people are like “oh I went to the doctor and he didn’t even give me a prescription”… probably because ya don’t need it mate! so this was baffling to me. when she was questioned, she didn’t really give a straight answer. this doctor, she was so lovely, however she was only an intern… still a newbie, so hardly a doctor (shhh), so I think she was a bit scared to start with and just wanted to treat everyone.

we reckon a couple of patients pretty much had tuberculosis, except had nothing to properly test with so it was a symptomatic diagnosis but very strongly recommended for one bloke that he go to the hospital to be tested. he was extremely reluctant because he just thought he had a sore throat but it got to the point where we had to tell him (via an interpreter) that he was putting everyone he came into contact with, including his family, at risk. I think we got through to him, as well as in the process probably contracting TB every time he coughed.

a lady came in with an insanely swollen leg below the knee complaining of pain. straight away I was like ‘holy shit, dvt’ to the doctor next to me, since I couldn’t feel a pedal pulse and her leg was paler than what her other one was. funny considering I thought it would be difficult to tell when people with dark skin have poor circulation. reminded me of a job I did as a paramedic student in mildura when a woman had one huge swollen leg after sitting in the car for 10 hours. we had MICA (intensive care paramedic) backup within 30 seconds and were at hospital within 5 minutes. so this poor lady needed to get her and her swollen, pulseless and pale leg off to the hospital ASAP for some interventions aka anticoagulation therapy.

another volunteer, moriah (a nurse), told me of a lady who came through wearing simply a skirt and a scarf tied around her chest. as she sat in front of the doctor, she removed the scarf only to show the most horrendous wounds and scabs all over her shoulders, arms, chest and stomach. she claimed a candle fell on her, but no one was believing her… moriah said to get that sort of huge extensive burn, she’d have to have had a huge pan of hot water or something tipped or poured on her. It makes me sick and I hate to think what actually happened. I’m pretty sure she got referred to the hospital as well.

sitting playing doctor with the doctors (almost more so than the doctors themselves)

exhausted smile

having a stand up snooze with a very sleep baby who’d been patiently all day with her mama to see the doctor but fell asleep when they finally came through

the group

and I am – again – so grateful to my amazing friends and family who donated so generously before I left. thanks to you guys, all of the donation money I had in my wallet at the time AU $155 (12,000 kenyan shillings) was spent on medications, thermometers and other medical supplies required to help run this camp, because we ran out of lindsay’s donation money. and it was so appreciated by all those people we helped on the day. if I had’ve taken more out beforehand, I would have given more. it was a fantastic day, but so incredibly draining. I haven’t had to think that much since my shifts as a paramedic student when I was treated like an actual ambo and expected to do everything for the patient – assess, diagnose, treat. felt so good to do actual medical stuff, a good 9 months after my last shift in health. but farrrrrk me, when we finally got back home to nairobi at 8:30pm that night, I slept like an absolute baby.

aaaand because it’s never too late to donate !
www.gofundme.com/takinghealthcaretokenya

welcome to kenya, we’ve got lions

africa; the arrival.

I don’t even know where to start! so much has happened already and it feels like I’ve been here 6 weeks, not just 6 days. during the lead up to me leaving germany and coming to kenya, I was a nervous wreck. even though it was mostly ‘excited nerves’, there was definitely a small percentage of me that was shit scared. I’m pretty sure it was because I spent a bit of time with someone who reminded me of home, which then reminded me of how long I’ll be gone for, which made me question myself more than a million times about what the bloody hell I was doing. but regardless, I got on the plane to doha and then I got on my plane to nairobi. and here I am!

when my plane landed at nairobi jomo kenyatta airport, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I had finally made it, so much planning and money spent, and I was finally in the land where david attenborough makes documentaries about lions and about the harsh deserts, the land where the lion king was based on, the land where poverty is so prevalent, the land that no one seems to travel to. and here I am.

considering my flight arrived at 7:30am and I hadn’t slept on either of the flights, I was basically a walking zombie. I also didn’t pay attention to the instructions about how to get the kenyan visa.. it costs $50us, but no one specified cash (or if they did, I missed that part) so I had my card all ready to go when the woman tells me she only accepts cash. so I go off in search of an atm back near the gate I came from, get out 10,000 kenyan shillings (approx. $130au) and go back to pay her the equivalent. but of course, she doesn’t have change, so I fork out 5000ksh for my three month visa, and I’ll have to reapply for another one for the next 3 months. classic case of not reading the fine print.

someone from the volunteer organisation (I booked through IVHQ but networks for volunteer services (NVS) is who I work for once in kenya) came to pick me up. I met three other volunteers in the van, one from sydney and two from america, and we were taken to the place where we’d spend the night before orientation the following day, in the same building. gradually as the day unfolded, more volunteers showed up, with the majority being americans & canadians. I was pretty surprised but once I realised this was their summer break, it made sense. in the group of volunteers on that first day, there were americans, canadians, one japanese guy, one from new zealand, one other aussie and me.

mikki (usa), tegan (aus ) and me with my awkward grimace smile

I was rather overwhelmed by the sheer number of american accents in one room, if there’s ever been an accent which annoys me more (usually only when I’m travelling) it’s that one! but after spending a week with my “new family” of canadian & american volunteers, I hardly notice it now.. except when we talk about ‘tomaytoes’

orientation was my first experience of ‘africa time’. if you’ve never heard of it, basically africans (in my experience, kenyans) don’t wear watches so you might be told orientation starts at 9am however it’s nearly 10am and it still hasn’t properly started. I’m positive this won’t be the only time I mention african time, I’m slowly starting to wrap my head around it, but it still gives me the shits!

I found out at orientation that contrary to what I thought I’d booked, I wasn’t going to maasai land for my first 2 months, but I was going to a family planning centre in thika, (in good traffic its about 45mins north west of nairobi, in bad traffic it might take 90mins). definitely have to be open to change when you’re a volunteer, considering they send you where they think you’re needed most. I also found out I am one of only two medical volunteers, and I’m the only qualified one – the other is a 2nd year med student from the uk. of the 99 volunteers who started on july 1, I’d say the majority are doing the orphanage program or teaching program.

the 99 volunteers, the biggest intake ever

later on in orientation, I was approached by a guy called marcus gregar-rive who, four years ago, came to kenya to volunteer and then set up a program for kids in a slum (called kitendo children’s charity (kcc) slum project) to be able to go to school. he asked me if I would like to be a part of a huge medical camp that kcc slum are running on august 17 in conjunction with kijabe hospital, to which I replied a probably far too ecstatic ‘yes, I’d love to’! after hearing about how another volunteer has managed to set up her own medical camps, I’m feeling pretty inspired on how to use the money that was so generously donated to me before I left. but that’s a long way down the track, with a lot of planning! past medical camps have run for either 1-2 days and service anywhere up to 1500 people with health services they otherwise can’t afford or get to.

so after orienting, you’re supposed to head to your host family before starting work the next day. however my group were still waiting on two more volunteers to arrive, so instead we stayed in nairobi on monday night at pastor regina’s house. it was jam packed full of volunteers, including an incredible mum, molly, from america with her 12 and 13 year old daughters. if that’s not a family holiday that actually means something, I don’t know what is. anyway, as we’re pulling our van into the gated area, about 20 kids are playing with ropes for skipping and rocks.

you often find small clusters of houses who share one common gate then have separate gates to their houses… makes you feel very secure. I’m climbing out of the car and the kids see my ukulele, start making strumming noises and ask me to play. quickly drop my bags inside and go back out with my newly tuned uke, and it was so much fun. initially I was playing and singing a few songs, namely somewhere over the rainbow, and then gradually as it got more exciting, they started taking over the playing and the singing (and the tuning!). it was absolute proof that something as simple as a musical instrument can bring such joy into people’s lives; the latest electronic play things are so unnecessary. it was pretty special to be part of the reason why the kids were smiling so much.

beautiful, happy, dancing kids loving my ukulele

this huge post is literally my first 2 days in kenya, and it’s not even scratching the surface!

when you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose

the time has come! to say I’m nervous would be the biggest understatement made in this century. I’m so nervous about everything that may or may not happen in the next 6 months.. but it’s an excited nervous – talk about fear of the unknown. I’m unbelievably excited about finally being on my way, 12 months down the track from first starting to plan this trip, and I’m actually doing it. there are far too many emotions that I’m thinking and feeling now, especially after a fantastic final few days in europe. on one hand, I am so ready for the huge challenge, but on the other, I can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m actually doing it.

better believe it sunshine, you’re on the plane!

kenya believe I’m going to kenya?!