Hey Bloggers,

Today is the last day! Wow. It will most definitely be hard to leave behind my volunteer work. I wish that I could do this forever (with some of the perks of Canadian life truthfully). As much as I will cherish this time, and continuously look back on it, I am equally as thrilled about going home to have a nice clean shower and reflect on the sensory overload I've experienced over the past three weeks.

Kenyans, without a doubt, are truly beautiful and inspiring people. Their spirits are so strong and their will to survive is unfathomable. They struggle with so much poverty, corruption, violence and unsanitary conditions, yet find a way to smile, extend a warm Jambo sana, and make you feel most welcome in their complex country. I wonder if, given similar circumstances, us Canadians could say the same?

Will I come back to Kenya again? For sure. One hundred percent. I will be back to this country to volunteer and do some discovering. Or even perhaps I will venture to another African country next year. There are many touristy things in Kenya I was unable to do (travel to the coast, Mombasa, and go on a safari), so even to fully discover more of its beauty and sereneness, I will be back.

Thank you, to Kenya, to my family, to my friends and supporters. Everyone has made this dream of mine a reality. I am so privileged to have helped and attempted to make, at most, a small imprint on the lives and health of Kenyan people.

Kwaheri,

Jake

I thought I would bring all my sponsors on this safari (journey) with me! Thanks again. (Sorry Melina, your head got cut off.. lol)

Jambo Mambo,

Today was my last day at the clinic. Tear. Wow. My time here really has been unique and special. I was a little emotional saying good-bye to the Nurses at the clinic, as they were such great mentors this whole time, and even more so, inspirational.

I am extremely glad I came here and that I was able to accomplish this. Thanks, of course, to everyone that assisted financially and supported me leading up to getting here and even while being here. Because of everyone's generosity, I was able to help the Kabete community for three weeks and really learn a lot about Kenyan health care and life here in Kenya. I will never forget this, it has changed my perspective on life, and how it should be lived sharing what I have with others.

Today's health talk at the Rehabilitation school went really well. I rounded up approximately sixty boys from the school into one classroom and taught them on five-to-six different health topics, as previously mentioned. It went well because all the boys were well behaved and very attentive during the session. Prior, I had made two other posters - in addition to the Malaria poster. The first was on Diarrhea and Dehydration, while the second was on Safe Sex and, more specifically, HIV/AIDS.

Right before my talk, I walked around with the other volunteers to see the living quarters and the hall, where they cook and eat. Boy, was I in for a shock and surprise. Fifty boys are crammed into one small building, two of them for the entirety of the students, where they are locked-in at 6pm, for the night, and then let-out at 7am. Remember, this school is a rehabilitation school for troubled boys. They range in age from 12 to 17 years old.

Three of the new volunteers, who are now placed at the school, helped out with holding the posters and rallying up the boys. I was pleased with how interested the boys seemed to be and I really hope that the education I provided them with today with promote healthier lives. Even if they can now recognize some signs and symptoms and/or practice some of the preventative skills to stay healthy, while living in such conditions.

I have been taking videos throughout my time here and, when I get home, I will compile all the videos into one and then post them for everyone to see.

Thanks, thanks and thanks.... What a beautiful experience and what a life the Kenyans live. Reach out, help those around you, and share whatever you can to make someone's life better.

Jake



The eating hall. For the 87 students.



Chopping food for cooking.



Sleeping quarters. Two of the buildings for all the boys. Intense.



Everything is washed by hand and hung to dry. Even at our volunteer house, I had to hand wash all my jazz. I am getting pretty good.

Jamnbo Everyone,

Today was a peaceful day in the clinic. Had to say good-bye to some of the staff that won't be back tomorrow for my last day. Kind of sad. I hate to leave them because they are so under staffed.

Tomorrow I am teaching in the boys school with Rosemary. That should be fun. Nothing much else to report as I near the end.

I have my poster picture as promised.

Enjoy it.

Jake

Working in the dispensary. Smiles for the Kenyans. They make everyday beautiful.



Nurse Lucy (older) and Kenyan volunteer, Rose-Marie translating our teaching session this morning at the clinic.



Charity and I taking a moment to smile for the camera. She has such a great spirit and has been my Mom away from home.



On our way to the Market, Tuesday March 02, 2010.

Hey Everyone,

Today is my eighteenth day in Kenya and a pretty good one. To quickly get it out of the way, I got my MCAT scores back and scored well. I will be able to apply to all the schools and I wanted to, this summer. YAY!

The clinic yesterday was pretty typical. Although, yesterday I got to teach the patients about malaria. I covered: what is malaria?, signs and symptoms, treatment, prevention, pregnant women and children with malaria. The people from the community really seemed to enjoy the session. I made a poster (I keep forgetting to take a picture of it but I will). And the group in our education session asked questions at the end, which I was really surprised about.

I had Rose-Marie, the Kenyan volunteer, help translate mostly everything I said, so that they really got the most out of it. This morning we talked to the patients about diarrhea, dehydration and vomiting. This went equally as well.

After clinic yesterday, Charity (my house Mama), took me to a huge Masai market on the outskirts of the city center. It was really quite something to see. Going back to the markets a second time with a Kenyan made all the difference. They still tried to swindle me because I am a tourist but Charity was able to bargain with them in Swahili and she knew what the average cost of things were. When I went alone two weekends ago, I had picked out 13 things, all from different vendors, and the mediator guy that walked around with me tried to sell it all for 300.oo USD. Yea right! I bought everything I wanted and some from the other day and I managed to stay below 40.oo USD. Thank you Charity.

Clinic was busy again today because of the pre-natal clinic and the vaccination clinic, on top of the regulars. I was a little mad at the doctor today because he came for the last hour and the nurses had already done the bulk of the work. Shockingly, I also found out today that clinic nurses in Kenya, roughly, make 5,000.00 USD a year salary. OMG. That is nothing. WTF. I am lost for words. I am going to try and confirm this but I asked Lucy a few times and she seemed to understand what I was asking. Unbelievable. That money does go quite a long way here. But to think that they work ten times harder than Canadian clinic nurses, with so much more knowledge, makes it so unjust.

I have to get off the computer, not sure even if I will edit over this blog for now, so don't hate if there are mistakes... xoxoxox 'till tomorrow.

Jake

Jambo Mambo Rafikis

Today is my last Monday and the rest of this week will be a bunch of lasts as well. Sad face. Time hasn't really flown by but it does seem like it wasn't enough time. That is for sure.

Today was full of rain and, because of this, the clinic was really slow. I decided to take this rare opportunity to walk across to the boys rehabilitation school where one of the other volunteers, Dennis, is placed. He was kind enough to walk me around and show me the school.

There are hardly any school supplies for these kids and the four teachers that teach the 87 boys are only Kenyan volunteers who haven't been able to find real teaching jobs. It was very evident that these volunteer teachers are doing the bare minimum due to the lack of pay. The boys were in their respective classes, grouped according to age, but the teachers, all of them, were just sitting in the staff room talking amongst themselves.

Dennis explained to me that this is how it normally is and he doesn't try to get involved in what they do because it would cause animosity between him and the staff. I walked around to the various classrooms and observed what some of the boys were doing. Some were actually studying their math, geography, agricultural studies, English and Swahili; however, the majority of the boys were just fooling around and playing games.

Near the end of my little walk about, Dennis introduced me to the principal of the school. Spontaneously, I decided to offer my services and asked if I could teach the boys about their health. It was very impromptu and now I am kind of kicking myself for 'volunteering' to teach. I will be fine. In fact, a student colleague of mine, Lise, and I once organized an elementary boys and girls group, at a local school, for our community health placement back in university. So I am going to follow our teaching format from that and teach the boys about: hand hygiene, safe sex and STDs, smoking, bacterial infections and proper antibiotic usage, as well as malaria and diarrhea, as those are two very common illnesses the boys come into the clinic with. This should be interesting.

Also, tomorrow I am doing my health talk on malaria at the clinic. I am making a poster for easy visuals and one of the other nurses will help translate in Swahili what is not understood in English. I will be working on that tonight.

I have to warn you of a picture I posted below. When I was approaching the lane to my clinic this morning, that branches off the main street, I came across a dying dog. I guess a car, or matatu, hit the dog - they drive ridiculously fast here and pass blindly all the time - and they must of left it on the side of the road to die. I nearly starting crying and it took everything in me to get close enough to take a picture. I wanted a picture because it quickly became quite metaphorical in a sense. It made me think of the dogma - it's a dog-eat-dog world out there. This country is a prime example of how this philosophy plays out and the evidence is quite fitting.

Many Kenyans are fighting for life. Fighting for food to put in their mouths and, seemingly, just scraping by at it. Hardly anyone is getting anything for free and only a very limited few are lucky to be born into some form of 'wealth' or 'privilege' - that is if you are lucky enough to not be born an orphan. Here, privilege and wealth mean a roof over your head, parents that are employed at anything, meals at meal times and an education - the bare necessities. Man, it is really hard to grasp this world. To think that a plane ride away you can live a life filled with luxuries and, to many, this leaves them feeling unsatisfied and hungry for more.

I wish everyone could come here, to Kenya, to the suburbs of Nairobi and take a look at what life is like. Then I would ask them to close their eyes and envision yourself being born into such a life. No choice. No alternative. No luck. Just having to make do with what you were given. Then, please, try to go back and complain about anything. I dare you to.

As for the dog today, his chance at life is over. So always look at what you have before wishing for something more. And think, at least I wasn't left to die on the side of the road.

Jake



The cows were grazing all over the clinic field today. It was weird to look out the windows while 'working' and see 25 cows chomping on grass.



Minutes after the next picture, I ran into these boys on their way home from school.
Boys: "Pic-cha mista....pic-cha mista"... too funny. They love getting their pic-cha taken.



This is what was awaiting me this morning at 0900am. The dog was dying at the beginning of the lane, leading into the clinic. It is a really graphic picture but I decided to post it because these are some of the vivid images you see on a daily basis here in Kenya. I cried for this dog. And as if once wasn't enough the dog was still there at 200pm when I left the clinic. Sad face.

Sunday Morning,

Well my weekend was sort of a flop. Sadly I didn't make it to Naivasha to meet the other volunteers. Sad face. I had all the intentions of going, got up early enough - well at least what I thought early was - and made it into Nairobi City Center. I made my way through the maze of matatus at the Accra Road Station and after some time found my matatu to Naivasha.

Unfortunately for me, the matatus destined for smaller towns, outside of Nairobi, only leave when they are filled to maximum capacity. They have no rhyme or reason to a schedule, only if they have made sufficient money will they make the journey and depart the station.

From Nairobi to Naivasha is about an hour and a half. I got to the matatu I wanted at 0930 thinking it would leave shortly after or, at least, withing the next 15-20 mins. Nope. I sat in the matatu for an hour and forty minutes. I had surpassed the actual time I was to meet the other volunteers and was still where I started in Nairobi. I guess it only takes one time for you to learn. Next time, whenever that may be, I will make sure to get to my matatu with hours to spare.

All was fine though, as the night before was our big night out on the town, and let me tell you, it was big. We started off by going to a fairly well known expat bar called Gypsy Bar. It was fun, lots of ex-patriots but it was more of a bar, as evident in the name. We were looking for something more in line with a club because we all had dance fever. So, two of the other volunteers, Jessie and Josefa, told us of a place they had previously gone to, called Black Diamond. The seven of us jumped into two cabs and headed that way.

Black Diamond was exactly what we wanted. It had a bigger bar with a dance floor and DJ, also a outside patio with its own bar and plenty of space. As soon as we entered the music was pumping and the best of African music, mixed with reggae, hip-hop and very limited top forty. The crowd was more of a mix of locals and expats but weighted a little heavier on the local side. It was great. The drinks were fairly cheap and we all had an excellent night. One success.

Most of this weekend, the electricity and water was off at the house. Last night we hung out in candle light and couldn't shower or boil fresh drinking water. It did come on this morning however, and thankfully so. As today is the last day of February, a new gang of volunteers are on their way to commence their own journeys. Throughout today, there will be six new volunteers coming to the house, four of which will stay, and two will go to more rural placements. Two have already arrived, a guy from Australia and a girl from Taiwan. Exciting.

Well, here is to the start of a new month. Lets hope it is equally as adventurous and that I make it through my last week in Kenya. What a journey so far. I love volunteering and what a better place to help out as nurse. I will definitely be back to accomplish some more touristy stuff, as I would have loved to go on a safari and get to the coast of Mombasa. Next time.

Love,

Jake

Hey Everyone,

Its FRIDAY..... and I can actually get excited about this because the other volunteers and I have decided we are going out Kenya style. To be honest, I don't really know what that means but I will let you all know on Monday. We are a little nervous about it but will be cautious. This involves cab rides to the door step and being picked-up at the door step at the end of the night. I am sure we won't stay out too late either. Mom, don't worry about me. I just need a night of drinking and DANCING.

Today was another regular day in the clinic. Nothing too new or exciting. The staff has really warmed up to me, and I feel like I am a part of the team. I thought I would ask them what their plans were for the weekend and the response was not too thrilling and borderline sad.

The nurses are all Moms and in Kenyan culture that means doing everything. Its not enough that these women, unlike many others, are educated and work full time jobs but they also have to fulfill the gender role of being mother and wife. They explained to me that weekends are spent catching up on the house work they fell behind on during the week and washing all the laundry - including linens - by hand.

Men in this culture do relatively nothing but go to work. They aren't supposed to step foot in the kitchen, they don't participate in the cleaning and they don't do any of the washing. I asked the nurses how this will ever change and if they teach their children differently. "Children are meant to help their moms out but the boys, when the grow up and marry, follow in their fathers' foot steps", the nurses responded.

They did say; however, that men help out a lot before the wife has kids. When it is just man and woman together, the responsibilities are split equally. But when children are born into the family, the man must exude his role as the leader of the household and be catered to. Archaic. Stupid. Ignorant.

For the rest of the weekend, I have now planned and confirmed that I am to go to Naivasha. It is a small, small town a hour-and-a-half North of Nairobi. This town is host to another Lake, similar to that of Nakuru, with flamingos and has a mountain with a hiking trail. I am meeting the two Canadian nurses that arrived when I did. They are going to be other volunteers from the IDP Pipeline Camp, so we will all hike and be tourists together. We will be spending Saturday night in cheap accommodation in Naivasha and then I will come back to Nairobi on Sunday. I am getting to this town and back by matatu, which shall be interesting. At most, I have only ever been in a matatu for 30 min, so triple that and I am in for an adventure.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and remember... life is beautiful.

Jake

Today's pictures are a tribute to the hard-working, incredible and big-spirited Kenyans.



Okay Vancouverites, it is now time to up your game. Look at this guy. This is how getting groceries home from the super-market should be done.



Just another day of walking forever with a million tons on your head! Lucky for you and I, public transport is everywhere - even if we think its not.



Two moms multi-tasking African style. Babies on their back and groceries on their heads. They are so inspiring.



Here is the picture, as promised, of the sketchy scaffolding that the construction workers count on day-in and day-out.

Hey Upper East-Siders...

Secretly I have been watching burned DVDs of Gossip Girl left behind by some other volunteer at the Volunteer House. "Who knew I would have to come all the way to Kenya to get hooked on Gossip Girl" - Andrea K.

This somewhat meaningless addiction is quite symbolic. For those who are better off, and oblivious to this show, I will give you a brief synopsis. The show revolves around a group of teens who live in the Upper East Side of New York and are privileged to all the luxuries of having rich parents. They take limos to school, have parties in their million dollar condos, and enjoy labels galore. At some point in my teenage life and - to be even more revealing - up until maybe this past summer living in Paris, I strived to be apart of this upper echelon. Not in terms of my wealth, as a nurses salary clearly would not cut it, but by perhaps trying to obtain and experience the finer things in life. As defined by the limitless bank accounts of the worlds millionaires.

It only takes a short time in Kenya, at least for most normal individuals, to realize that happiness is not correlated to materialistic possessions. Clearly, this concept has been in discourses for years upon years and, more so, before my current awakening. But what is important about my present realization is a resurrection of this concept to the forefront of my consciousness. It is the fact that happiness comes from the inside and everything else should be viewed as a million layers of icing on what should be a simple vanilla cake.

The people of Kenya, without meaning to, have taught me the true ingredients to my new cake - or happiness. It involves cherishing the little things in life. The sound of the wind, the music in everyday noise, the greenery that surrounds us, and a simple loaf of bread or a piece of fruit. Thinking of this brings me back to walking through Kibera - the giant slums outside of Nairobi - on my first day in Kenya. What those people have would cause thousands of North Americans to delve into a deep depression with little hope of recovery. But to these people, what they have gets them by everyday and, to them, there aren't expectations of what tomorrow will bring. So, for now, they make the most of what they have been given, whilst working hard to get maybe one extra layer of icing.

It is an invaluable trait that the Africans possess. In some respects, it may seem as if ignorance is bliss; however, they do know what is beyond their reach and I am sure, if handed to them, they would grab at it in a second. Until this country changes and experiences economic growth - which unfortunately will not be in my lifetime - the residents, who may appear to have nothing, are the ones with the richest of cakes. They have their heart, happiness and a beautiful, vibrant soul. As most of us know, when you go into a kitchen with these three things the outcomes are limitless.

Nothing exciting today in the clinic, just regular patients. It was kind of boring after the chaos of yesterday but much needed to recuperate. I am trying to make plans for this weekend and so far I have come up with taking a three hour long matatu ride up to Nakuru - a small village town which is host to the Nakuru National Park. This park has a beautiful lake filled with African flamingos and rhinos. Should be spectacular. Beauty is here, you just have to look at it with open eyes.

'x-o-x-o',

Jake

The pictures today are relatively boring. I left my camera at home today so here are some pictures I already took but have not posted.



Here is the local post office. Nothing to fancy eh?



This is the corner behind the door of the Mom and Babe room. It holds the scale in which we weigh the babies. We put them in the harness and then hang them from the scale (only once under my supervision did a baby smack the back of his head on the corner of the wall, eek).



A tree outside my clinic. Sometimes I sit here for a quick break and contemplate things. Very spiritual of me lately and fitting.

Hey Family, Friends and Supporters...

Today is day kumi na moja. Kumi stands for ten and moja is one. The 'na' part translates to 'plus'. So ten plus one. ELEVEN. I am still in good spirits, healthy as can be, a bit Canada sick and OF COURSE, missing everyone back home (and other places).

The clinic has never been busier. Today was the Mom and Babe clinic as well as the antenatal clinic, on top of the regular patients who come on a day-to-day basis for treatment. Even with a full staff, a first since arriving, we were dragging our butts. The doctor appeared at a decent hour for once, in addition to two nurses, the Kenyan Public Health student volunteer and myself.

I had the Kenyan volunteer help out the nurse running the Mom and Babe room so that when patients needed injections or treatments I could help out there. Many of the Moms and Babes solely speak Swahili so it is hard for me to run a room on my own. Today was perhaps the first day that I felt frustrated because of this. I am completely qualified to do what they are doing with the Moms and Babes and even the antenatal room, yet the language barrier is just that - a barrier. I know that dispensing the medications and running the treatment room is a big help - or else the patients would have to wait until a nurse could leave their respective rooms and look after them - so I had to remind myself of this. It is just really hard to see how strained the nurses are and want to help out even more than I already am.

Shortly after feeling annoyed and frustrated, I decided to get the Kenyan volunteer who speaks perfect English to teach me some more Swahili. I needed to up my game. By the end of the day I was able to tell the patients the exact frequency in which to take their medications, how to tell the patients if the medications needed to be bought elsewhere, and was able to tell the Moms to bring back the baby medication bottles for recycle. Rightfully so, at the end of the day I was able to pat myself on the back.

One interesting patient I saw today in the treatment room - to spice things up - was a 18 year old boy with a spider bite on his foot. I thought the severed thumb was bad until I saw the pus draining out the open wound on the surface of his foot. Barf. I had to drain out some of the pus, clean out the wound and dress it for him. Gosh, now that I know the havoc some of the spiders can cause, I am a little more freaked out by them.

Speaking of insects, lets discuss the mosquitoes here. In the last two days I have been a buffet for these blood draining suckers, literally. I have about ten mosquito bites right now. Thankfully, I am taking my anti-malarial pills like clock work. The travel doctor in Ontario told me how Nairobi isn't that high of a risk for malaria, yet every fourth patient that comes into our clinic is being treated for malaria due to their signs and symptoms. Only every so often will the doctor write a script for a blood side for the Malaria Parasite. Most of the cases blindly treated are small children, who perhaps are more prone to catching malaria? Who knows?

In fact, the doctor wants the nurses to pick-up on the lack of health talks each morning (not one health talk has happened since my arrival, most likely because the nurses here pull the doctors weight BIG TIME). He compiled a list of topics that he wanted them to cover. The nurses are to teach the patients who congregate out front of the clinic for the first ten minutes of the day. Out of all the topics, the one I was least familiar with was malaria. So I volunteered myself to take on this topic and, with a translator, I will teach the patients about malaria next Tuesday. This will be the perfect opportunity for me to learn more about this prevalent disease in Kenya and further increase my ability to help the patients in the clinic - thus accomplishing the goal I set out to conquer.

I had a comment from a dear friend of mine, Ingrid, about the immense contrast in yesterdays pictures between the Westgate Mall and the Kabete clinic. I wanted to elaborate on this because it raises an interesting point. The mall where I frequent almost daily, as it is beside the internet cafe I use, is of grandeur for Nairobi standards. It is owned by non-Kenyans, perhaps Arabics or South Asians. Regardless, most of the people shopping in the mall are also non-Kenyans. When I walked in it for the first time I felt like I walked through a time-space continuum and was back in Toronto at the Eaton Centre. Sadly, most of the local Kenyans are not benefiting from the fruits of this isolated gem.

It is typical for a country such as Kenya, to have these pockets of wealth within minutes of pure, sad poverty. Of course, this mall provides employment to local Kenyans, but I am sure only English speaking Kenyans get the jobs and, if so, are most likely earning a meager wage.

Another friend of mine questioned my dietary and nutritional health since being here. I am eating well - I haven't lost any weight and perhaps have even gained a pound or two. I am not exercising here. Sad face. I do walk to and from my volunteer placement, which is about a 20 minute walk each way. To be honest, I would love to go on runs but I am afraid of venturing too far from the known. This is my comfort zone and it is quite literally a zone of maybe 10 km in one direction along a single road. Maybe I will start to do sit ups or push-ups in the volunteer house. Skeptical face.

My bowels have been holding up fairly well. I remember assessing one patient in the clinic last week who presented with diarrhea and abdominal pain (as many do) and asking the patient how long she had the diarrhea for. The doctor stopped me and told me that in Kenya most people don't have a constant, long lasting 'norm' for their bowels. In fact, diarrhea could be normal for a few days without really being infected with anything. It is fairly sporadic depending on what the meals consist of and what they can afford to eat. So personally, I would have to agree and say, although I am not in pain or having problems, my bowels have been all over the map.

Well, I must stop here and venture home before I turn into a pumpkin (that is code for: get the f&$* home before dark).

Kwaherini

Jake

Mom with babe and daughter preparing for their trek home from visiting the clinic. The baby has malaria (very, very common diagnosis in our clinic) and the daughter had an upper respiratory infection.



Finally, a picture of the outside of my clinic, the Kabete Rehabilitation Clinic in Lower Kabete. (After publishing this post I looked at the picture and almost cried at how sad it looks from the outside)



Lee-Anne and I in Westgate Mall in Westlands suburb of Nairobi, Kenya. Her Dad and step-Mom are in the background. It was so nice of them to meet me and THANK YOU for a nice sushi dinner.



This is Simon (a Vancouverite) and I at the Giraffe Center. Forgot to post a picture of him. A friend of Jody's who is training to be an immigration officer for Canada in the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi.

Jambo Mambo -

Well today is day kumi (ten) and I am close to the halfway mark of my twenty-one days in Kenya. It is surreal that I am where I am, in terms of my experience, before I got here I no idea what to expect and now I am jumping on matatus and navigating through the suburbs of Kenya. But I am still a muzungo (word for white person).

Yesterday was really nice. I got to see my friends Lee-Anne and Marcus who were in Kenya with Lee-Anne's Dad and step-Mom visiting some friends of theirs. There friends are a Canadian couple who live out in the Masai Mara and work for one of the nicest hotels in Kenya, the Serena House (sp). This hotel is in the midst of the Mara overlooking African wildlife as they live day-to-day. This Canadian couple operate hot air balloons that fly over the safari land, the man operating the balloon, while the gal takes professional pictures. The six of them were a breath of fresh air and a little slice of home for me. They took me out with them for sushi dinner which I am extremely thankful for. Thank you Ray, Lee- Anne and others.

I was at the clinic again today. I worked in the dispensary and treatment room again but instead of handing out medications I was more or less the pharmacist today. I was repackaging all the medications as the pre-packaged medication supply was starting to run low. A lot of the standard prescriptions are pre-filled to make things operate a lot faster. I am not sure how pharmacists or their assistants back home stay sane but I have a whole new respect for 'pill pushers'. To my friend Margie in Vancouver, I am glad you did your clinical residency. Congrats.

Intermittently between counting amoxyl, paracetamol, piriton, and ibuprofen tabs, I was also operating the treatment room again. The first patient I saw was a local construction worker. This vocation in Kenya is not nearly as guarded from hazards compared to the standards back in Canada. A lot of the construction here happens with archaic machinery, even machetes, and little to NO safety gear. Furthermore, the scaffolding is made out of thick three branches and bamboo stocks (speaking of, it is so frequently seen here that I will try to get a picture for next time).

This construction worker was a middle aged man who came in with a cloth wrapped around his thumb, with his primary complaint being a 'cut' to his left thumb. He had told the nurse in the assessment room that he cut his thumb on piece of metal. She sent him to the treatment room to see me with an adjoining script that ordered for a tetanus shot and a clean dressing to be applied over the wound. When I got the patient up on the bed and unwrapped the cloth around his thumb I saw that his thumb was pretty much cut in half starting at the top of his thumb and working its way down splitting the nail in two. Very appetizing.

I had to try my hardest to stay composed. I left the patient in the room while I went to consult the nurse and describe to her what it looked like, as she clearly did not assess it herself. I explained that he may need something more than just a dressing. She wrote a referral to the nearest hospital for suturing - as we don't do that in our clinic, nor do we have the supplies even if we wanted to - but before he left I had to clean the wound and redress it. Gag.

The doctor finally came into the clinic today around noon. He was accompanied by three contractors, as the doctor is trying to make a few improvements to the clinic. When we took our chai tea (the national drink here) for the afternoon we were interrupted by one of the Kenyan school teachers from the Rehabilitation School adjacent to the clinic. It was the science teacher from the school and he was requesting syringes from the clinics supply. Before the doctor responded to this request I immediately felt tension in the room and thought that this was an odd teaching supply for a teacher to need.

The doctor asked the teacher what it was he wanted the needles for - as he has to account for his supplies which are rationed by the government - but the teacher instantly switched from a quiet man to this angered, hostile Kenyan. He promptly stated that if the doctor wanted to ask too many questions, the he should be prepared to deal with the consequences. Followed by a gentle, give me the needles and I will be on my way. The whole time this is happening the nurse is staring at the ground and I am in complete shock at what is going down. The teacher ended up taking a bunch of our prepackaged needles, which surely will be sold on the streets tonight. After wards, the doctor didn't really bring the subject up again, so I think he was a bit embarrassed at what happened.

Later on during our tea session the doctor explained the circumstances involving the post-election violence of 2007. In a VERY short, non peer reviewed version based on my talk with Dr. Ashiembi, this is what I gathered. He told me that the current President of Kenya had the electoral body change the name on the winning election ballot as he would have lost to the current Prime Minister. Since Kenya is composed of nearly 43 different tribes only a few tribes were/are represe the 38 other tribes attacked and took out their anger on the four tribes whom are represented by the corrupt President.

It took the United Nations and a few African organizations to come into Kenya to break up the violence. Many people were further displaced because of this violence and further increased the number of people in the IDP camps. The next set of elections are in December of 2012 and many residents here are concerned that this may happen again. Dr. Ashiembi further elaborated on many corrupt schemes played out by the government, including the ginormous salary government officials are paid. At the end he said that Kenya has tried to vote into place a leader to lead the nation but they always end up with a King who feels entitled to whatever he wants.

Just another interesting day in Kenya. I hope that what you take from this a realization that things happen very differently in remote parts of the world. As a Canadian, we have many checks and balances that allow us to live freely and have equality. If you can, take the time to read up on places such as Kenya or other countries in Africa and see if there is something big or small you can do to help. Even helping some cause in Canada is more than enough.

Sending my love

Jake

Walking home from the clinic today. The best donkey EVER!



Yes, that is me kissing a Giraffe. I guess this is the most action I will get in Kenya. The ground keepers get you to place their food in between your lips and then the Giraffe comes in for a 'kiss', and steals the food away.



Elephant being fed formula at the Elephant Orphanage in Langata, Kenya. Such beautiful animals.



Here is a lady at the Masai market making the cutest little dolls ever.

Sawa...

What is going on everyone? I am feeling a bit detached from back home but also a little bit more settled into day-to-day life in Kenya. It is insane here. I spent most of my weekend navigating through Nairobi City Center and some of the surrounding areas on my own. What an experience. I have never felt so scared in my life to be traveling on my own. I don't even have a cellphone. Eek. Though, you don't need to worry Mom because, needless to say, I am still alive and what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Right?

Saturday I went through the City Center to better understand how to get around and also do some discovering. I went and spent time with a few of the workers from my organization, VICDA. They were willing to help me with coordinating some sight seeing and how to navigate the crazy matatu system in order to do it cheap. Like I described before, matatus are city buses but the size of vans. They hold a minimum of 14 people but, during rush hour, they hold approximately 20 people with many people having to sit on each others' laps. There have been a few times now that I have been ripped off by the 'conductors'. They over charge tourists but it is still WAY cheaper than taking a taxi. For a 10.00 dollar taxi ride you can take a matatu for 0.20 cents across the same distance.

The thing I learned or more so experienced this weekend is the huge amount of corruption that plagues countries like Kenya. For example, we were pulled over by the cops for the driver not wearing a seat belt and the police officers opened the drivers wallet behind the van and just took the money from his wallet before letting him go (Chadwick don't get any ideas). A similar situation happened earlier last week with one of the drivers from our organization. Even with VICDA, the organization I volunteer with, they over charge us on taxi rides, day trips and pick-ups from the house. If we were to organize these things on our own it would be nearly half the price. It is really hard to trust people here, and at the bare minimum, I would have liked to at least trust the people I am working for.

After spending time with the organization staff, I went to the Masai Market in Nairobi city center (I will post a picture). This market is fairly large with a lot of cool things in it. Mostly everything in the market is made by hand from natural resources. I was by myself, so I immediately got flagged by the hustlers that try to walk you through the market and sell you the merchandise. Once they sell you the things they want they go back and give a small cut to the vendor but keep the majority of the earnings. I was trying to be really firm having experienced similar markets in Jamaica, but they are persistent and follow you around. By the time I was done, they were trying to charge me THREE HUNDRED USD for merchandise that probably and fairly cost maybe 60 USD. I ended up walking out empty handed out of pure frustration. I will attempt to go back with my house Mama, Charity, who can derail the corrupt hustlers in Swahili.

On Sunday, I had planned to go to the Elephant Orphanage (picture below) and the Giraffe Center. A friend of mine from Vancouver, Jody, had connected me with his friend Simon, who is currently in Nairobi for roughly six weeks. He was recently hired to work as a Canadian Immigration Officer (he is Canadian himself) and he is attending a training program here in Nairobi. We had roughly planned the night before to meet at the Elephant Orphanage for when it opened, so I had to get there solo, and, of course, by matatu. The first matatu I took got me from my volunteer house into the City Center. Then I had to walk for about 20min, further into the city and a little to the outskirts, to get my next matatu at the Railway Station. This was so SKETCHY. This is probably when I was most afraid. Even having a Jamaican father, and slightly darker skin, I felt sooooo white and out of place. Hahaha. Oh well.

I finally found my matatu number in a zoo of matatu vans. I asked before hand how much, roughly, it should cost as to not get ripped off. I was feeling pretty confident. The ride started off well and I thought they understood where I wanted to go, but they let me out at the Animal orphanage (where I went to on my second day of orientation). Damn. I knew they were letting me out at the wrong place but they almost forcefully made me get out. So I stood on the side of the road alone waiting for the next matatu to come along. I jumped in and luckily the lady I ended up sitting beside knew were I was going and pointed it out when we came to it.

At the Elephant Orphanage Simon found me in the crowd of ALL white tourists who were there to look at the baby elephants. I went from feeling like a scared minority, to almost embarrassed to be around so many tourists at once, gawking at elephants. It was quite amazing though how many there were and some of the stories we heard as to why the were brought into the orphanage. One, for example, was lost from his pack and shortly after a hyena bit off his tail and part of his ear. Tear.

As Simon is working at the Canadian Embassy (and getting paid), he got to the Elephant Orphanage in style, a personal driver for the day that is. Thanks to him, we took his driver from the Elephant Orphanage to the Giraffe Center, which in retrospect would have been a nightmare if I had done it by matatu, as originally planned.

The Giraffe Center was cute. We got to pet the Giraffe's feed them and give them a 'kiss'. LOL. After that Simon was nice enough to drop me back off closer to where my volunteer house was to save me some matatu rides. Overall it was a great and relaxing weekend.

Unfortunately for me, and to my feeling quite comfortable in Kenya, Simon told me how on Friday a Canadian was kidnapped in Nairobi. However, I think the man is fairly wealthy and he was kidnapped outside his compound after having dropped his son off at private school. Supposedly, they are in the midst of trying to arrange the ransom demands. AHHHhhhhhhh.

Today was my fourth day in the clinic and my first Monday in the clinic. It was fairly busy today. The doctor didn't come in agai, so in the morning it was just myself and one other nurse. Due to my lack of Swahili, I am not very helpful with doing health assessments, nor am I able to prescribe the medication. A lot of the patients at our clinic are from poor to low income bracket families and therefore did not attend school, thus have little to no English. I worked in the dispensary again today, as well as the treatment room. I had a few injections to do and, for the first time, I had three wound dressings to do. Two were on boys who had cut themselves playing or roughing it up with their friends and the third was bullet wound dressing. I made little to no conversation with that patient.

I wish I would have brought some dressing trays with me. The clinic has nothing sterile in it, and no equipment to sterilize anything. Strictly relating to wound care supplies that is. All the needles are sterile and individually packaged. So the best I could do was apply a clean dressing with clean gloves, some saline water, gauze, tape, and iodine that they have in a giant jar. The patients are told to come back every two days for dressing changes until it heals but the nurses told me today that they rarely see those patients ever again.

The kids in the clinic are still loving the crayons and colouring book pages that I rip out for them. Its amazing how far something so small can go. One of the other volunteers from the house, who volunteers at the Nairobi Children's Home (she happens to be a nurse but wanted to work with kids), asked me to come by the orphanage on my way home with a anti-parasitic tablet for one of the kids they think has worms. When I got there she asked me to check out another kid - actually this little girl was more like a toddler. The toddler was napping in her crib and half asleep when I saw her. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH BAD HERPES ZOSTERS, especially on such a young kid. Katie, the volunteer, told me that all the orphanage is doing, and sadly enough, more like all they can do for this little girl, is putting iodine on the open blisters and giving her antibiotics, not even acyclovir medication. With a quick glance and assessment, I think she also has physical signs and symptoms of HIV. The reality is, the home cannot afford to send any of their children to hospitals due to lack of staff and funds, so the kids who are sick only get basic care from the doctor at my clinic who comes in once a week. Again tears.

Well, I am trying to stay strong. There are times I want to run into the wild African bushes and cry my eyes out but then I think of getting beaten up, kidnapped and/or mugged. So I hold it in and walk my 25 min walk home with my chin up high.

Kwaherini rafikis - Goodbye friends

Jake

Happy Birthday Madison from the Nairobi Elephant Orphanage. Love you lots little Princess.

This is the entrance to the school and the clinic where I am volunteering in Lower Kabete, a community outside of Nairobi.



This is the pre-natal education room. Lucy is taking the blood pressure of one of the pregnant woman using the one and only (ghetto) blood pressure cuff. The picture with the Mom breastfeeding is teaching the Mom's to not breast feed if they are HIV positive. Many Mom's will breastfeed regardless because they cannot afford formula or do not want to walk to the nearest health center where they can get it for free.



Here is the one electric cooler we have to keep the vaccinations cold. They deal with what they have.



Here is a finished product. They melt my heart. You can see how narrow the hall ways are in this clinic, on either side of the hall ways are the eights rooms (four on each side) that I described in a previous posting.



I brought some colouring books and crayons (thanks to Raph and Andrea) for the kids to play with while in the waiting room. A lot of them were running around before and it was very loud and hard to hear when doing assessments. They love the colours of the crayons and seem to be very thankful.

Jambo Sana..

Today is Day Sita (six) and I am quickly approaching the one week mark. I must say time is not really flying by here. Each day is so monumental and eye-opening that it really sinks in. I am on the fence as to whether or not I would want to stay more than three weeks. Some of the other volunteers are here for six months. Unbelievable. I would like to think that I could last here for six months but, to be honest, I am not too sure I could. Perhaps if my volunteer placement was constantly changing I could manage or if I divided the time in half and swtiched between an orphanage and a health clinic. Ideally, when I come back, I would love to work with a mobile clinic that travels between communities and throughout the slums. That would be perfect.


Today in the clinic I worked the dispensary and by the end of the day I felt like I was on a roll. Like I wrote yesterday, the doctor wasn't coming in today, so it was the nurse, Lucy, and I with one administrator. I also had to work the treatment room today. Basically, the treatment room is where STAT medications/injections are given and any emergency care, which is rare at this clinic. Today I gave about ten injections to a combination of adults and kids. The rest just had take home prescription medications. The clinic is almost free to everyone. The only costs endured are for a patient chart, 5 Kenyan shillings (Ksh) - 1USD = 75 Ksh - therefore less than 5 USD cents. Only adults have to pay a 20 Ksh consultation fee, which again is like 20 USD cents. Amazing.

A lot of my close volunteer friends are gone this weekend, so I will be discovering some of Nairobi and Kenya on my own this weekend - don't worry Mom I will be SAFE.

Today is also my little sister's birthday. Madison is turning nine today. When thinking of how my sister is living her life compared to the nine year old children I see in Kenya, I am at a loss of words. What a difference. One of the kids I met at the orphanage is 9 years old. When he was seven, two years ago during the post election violence, both his parents were killed. He was locked in his house with his two younger siblings for two weeks. He fed his two siblings for the two weeks until they were discovered.

Another boy at the all-boy Kabete Rehabilitation School -it is called a rehab school because these boys have been 'sentenced' there by the government for bad/criminal behaviour - wrote a 'life story' for Denis, a 72 year old, American volunteer at the school who resides with us at the volunteer house. In the story, the boy tells Denis how his Dad was four hours late coming home from work one day, which was never the case. When his Dad got home he was bleeding everywhere from stab wounds. He told his son, the one writing this story, to come into the bed room. The Dad said he loved him the most out of all the siblings and, therefore, wanted to tell him the truth as to why he was bleeding. He told his son that today had been pay day, and as his friends made significantly less money then him, his friends stopped him on his way home and stabbed him six times before stealing his money. The Dad told his son who the friend was. The little boy, perhaps at the time 11 years old, gathered his friends and created a gang called the 'Labistas' - meaning the Revenge gang. They went to the Father's friend's house, broke in the door, went directly up the man in front of his family, and killed him with a machete. After getting home, he realized his Dad was taken to the hospital. The Dad had died in the ICU. The nurse told the boy that the last thing his Father had said was to tell him THANK YOU. The boy has been at the school for a few years and now realizes the mistake he made. The school is attempting to rehabilitate all the boys, who all have equally horrific upbringings. Once they have finished there term they will be sent back to their respective communities.

I will be visiting this school either next week or the week after as it is a soccer field distance from my clinic. The stories, lives and hardships the people of Kenya live through and endure is overwhelming. I would not know how to survive here as a child and, sometimes, I think how even now I would not survive. Nurses salaries are minimum. They travel great distances to work at their clinics and Kenya, as a whole, does not have many jobs available due to the effects of the recession.

I am so happy to live the life I have been so luckily given but, more importantly, I am so much more committed now than ever to make a difference in this world.

Love and happiness to all...

Jake

The health clinic has no running water. The water we do have is kept in this big canister and is collected from the neighboring school about a soccer field distance away. We use this water to wash our hands which doesn't happen that frequently here, and no one wears gloves really. So different.



This is one of the nurses, Lucy, dispensing medication to the patients through the window, as there is hardly any room in the clinic for them to line up.

Hey Everyone,

I have finished my second day in the clinic. I am still feeling really great about my time here. The staff at the clinic have been slow to warm up but, after today, I feel as if I made some progress in explaining to them what my role as a nurse is in Canada and how I can be helpful in the clinic.

Nurses in the health clinics here in Kenya act as a family doctor would in Canada. They are incredible. They assess all the patients and prescribe appropriate treatments until the doctor arrives, which today was not until noon. They were surprised that I don't prescribe medication as a nurse at home, and even more surprised that I don't have a broader skill set/knowledge base in my own profession.

I told them how - after graduating from nursing school - nurses pick an area of exp health care delivery is not as segregated as ours. They don't have a different hospitals to specialize in different treatments and only major cities have hospitals. Communities the size of most Canadian suburbs do not have a hospital, strictly smaller clinics like mine here. Furthermore nurses in Kenya only specialize if they are in such hospitals and even then only if they work in the ICU or Emergency care. Other than that, mostly all other nurses work with the complete gamete of patients in clinics.

Today I learned from the doctor at the clinic, Dr. Ashiembi, that he is not a true doctor in a sense. His title is technically medical officer. This is a three year certificate degree with a one year internship. This program was created in Kenya to increase the amount of physicians in health clinics across Kenyan communities. Medical officers cannot specialize in any other form of medicine and health care. They do not even provide treatment for HIV/AIDS patients. This would be somewhat comparable to a family doctor in Canada, or even perhaps a Nurse Practitioner.

Dr. Ashiembi also explained that, legally, it is assumed that the diagnostic accuracy rate in health clinics is less than 80 percent. However, actual doctors in hospitals are held to an accuracy of greater than 90 percent because of their access to labs and diagnostic equipment.

I noticed this in their prescribing practices because the doctors and nurses here prescribe antibiotics for anything and everything, from a runny nose, mothers' accounts of fevers, and right through to mild abdominal pain. They don't even have a thermometer in the clinic. I asked Dr. Ashiembi why this was and he explained that it is done for prophylactic reasons. The practitioners do not want more severe infections invading the patients while their immune systems are compromised. Due to the hugely poor sanitation levels and the extremely poor quality of life, this would most definitely be the case. It is really sad.

Today, they trained me to operate the dispensary and the treatment room for injections. Dr. Ashiembi will not be in the clinic tomorrow, I am not too sure why, so it will be myself and one other nurse for the day. Should be very interesting.

I am going to take it easy tonight. Most of my house mates are leaving to go on a Safari tomorrow for four days so I will have to find some touristy things to do over the weekend.

Please post comments, love to hear from everyone...

Sending my love,

Jake

Raph and Andrea, two of my favourite volunteers here in Kenya. They have been so warm and friendly to me. They took me under their wing right away. They, of course, are Canadian and fellow Torontonians.



These are some of the children at the Nairobi Children Home. One of my house mates, Katie, is a nurse from Mission, B.C. and she concocted this craft for the kids at the orphanage. Some of the other volunteers went there in the afternoon to help the kids make the stick puppets. They loved us and the puppets as much as we loved them.



This is a picture of the Kabete Rehabilitation Clinic, it is the building in the far back. I will get more pictures from the front and also the inside. This is it for now.

Habari gani everyone...

Today marked day four of this 21 day epic adventure. It was the first day of me volunteering in the clinic and I was really excited and nervous to see what it was all about. In the morning, two of the nurses from Canada left for their three hour trek to the Pipeline IDP Camp. It was sad to see them go.

My house Mama, Charity, took me to the Kabete Rehabilitation Clinic first thing in the morning after breakfast. It is not that far from my volunteer house, approximately a 25 min walk along the street side. The health center, as painted above the door, is directly across an all boys school called The Kabete Rehabilitation School. It is a school for troubled teenage boys who need correction before returning back home or to their communities.

The clinic opens at 830am and I arrived shortly after. There was only one nurse in the clinic when I got there and she was already seeing patients. Wednesday is Mom and Babes day, where the Mom's from the surrounding communities bring in their babies for weighing and immunizations/vaccinations. The vaccination schedule is nearly identical to that in Canada.

Shortly after arriving, I was formally given a tour of the tiny clinic. There were seven very small clinic rooms in a cement/concrete building. On the left side from front to back there was a dispensary room, a office room, the immunization and weighing room, and the drug room. On the right hand side from front to back was the doctors assessment room, a treatment room, a pre-natal assessment room for family planning and education, and the staff room at the end. All of these rooms are extremely small with severely outdated furniture and equipment.

At about 0930 after the first wave of Moms and Babes, the nurse had to open the doctors room and start assessing the patients as the doctor had not arrived. The line up at 0930 already consisted of 20 patients. The nurse began her physical assessment and prescribing treatments and medication to the patients. What an incredible work these nurses do. I was amazed at their knowledge base and how comfortable they were with prescribing antibiotic doses amongst other medications.

I began to help with the assessments while the nurse, Susan, began doing some of the paperwork involved. I would say that about half the patients spoke English well and the other half at least a few to no words. Many of the patients were Moms with kids 6 and under. The living conditions here are so poor that they undeveloped immune system is not strong enough to fight off infections.

Many of the cases today were upper respiratory tract infections in children due to all the dust and dirt they live amongst. Other common diagnoses today were gastroenteritis, stomach parasites, malaria, skin rashes, fungal infections and otitis media. The clinic is labeled Level 3, which means they have one medical officer (doctor) and nurses, who can prescribe basic medications like antibiotics, antimalarial medication, analgesics and typhoid medications. There is no lab or diagnostic capacity, nor do they do any labour deliveries.

I had a couple of really sad and interesting patients. One was a woman who came into the clinic after realizing she was pregnant. She had been living with a friend of hers when the house got broken into and the two of them were raped by a group of men. She became pregnant after this horrific incident and decided not to have an abortion. When the doctor asked why she didn't abort the pregnancy and if she would resent the child, the mother-to-be said, "no because this is what God had planned for me" and "this is a child of God". I almost started to cry in the clinic room. There is always a way for the people from Kenya to see light, especially through their religious beliefs.

Another patient was a woman who came into the clinic wondering if she could possibly be pregnant. She explained that she had been having abdominal pain for the last two weeks and feeling nauseated. Her husband and herself have been trying to conceive but have so far been unsuccessful. After she left the clinic with a script for a free pregnancy tests at one of the clinics, the doctor explain something to me that I found really interesting. He told me that when a man and woman marry in Kenya, they try to conceive within the first month of marriage. If the woman is unable to conceive after this month, the woman is considered a failure. This leads to the man finding sex else where, trying to have a baby with another woman. The husband does not leave his wife, just has many sexual encounters with other woman. The doctor explained that this then leads to the woman looking elsewhere for sex as well, and due to both their infidelity they bring HIV into the house hold.

After the long line up of patients came to an end, I left the clinic to meet some of the other volunteers at the Nairobi Childrens' Home. It is an orphanage for many kids where they live and go to school. Three of the volunteers in the house volunteer at this orphanage. I will post some pictures. I am going to take better pictures of the clinic et cetera.

Today is coming to an end. I will be back at the clinic tomorrow and Friday before having Saturday and Sunday to journey around Nairobi again. I am so happy to be here and finally helping out in the clinic. This is also such great experience for me and I am learning so much about health care, medicine, and Kenyan culture.

Nakupenda - love

Here is my first Kenya meal - ugali and chicken.



My first African Lion. So neat. He was pretty sleepy.

Jambo sana,

Today is day TATU (three). I have finished my orientation with Volunteer International Community Development Africa (VICDA). So far, they have been extremely professional and really easy to work with. We have had our own personal drivers to and from orientation days. Today we had traditional Kenyan meals for lunch. The five of us volunteers ordered all different dishes and shared them.

One of their big dishes is Ugali, which is corn flour cooked in boiling water until it becomes the consistency of thick, thick mashed potatoes. It is extremely dry and flavourless but you are meant to eat it along side stewed meats and veggies. They also have Chipati, which is the African version of Naan bread. I tried Malako, which is similar to stewed banana in Jamaican dishes. My stomach has been fine thus far, so I am knocking on wood that it holds up.

This morning before orientation we were taken to an Animal Orphanage in Nairobi. This is where a lot of animals from the National Parks and the wild are brought when they are not surviving on their own. They are all healthy and domesticated in this environment. I saw warthogs, all sorts of feline species, including, lions, tigers, cheetas and leopards. We were even allowed to enter into a cheeta cage and pet one of the cheetas. AMAZING.

The monkeys were equally amazing. I love monkeys. I have a treat video of something involving monkeys as well. We also saw African buffalo, parrots, a male ostrich and many other native animals to this East African country.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow, as it is my first day in the clinic. I will be taken there by my house Mama Charity in the morning. It is a 25min walk from my volunteer house, along a village road. Will be really symbolic each morning walking along the street as many Kenyans do, to go help out. I am sure tomorrow will mostly be spent shadowing the medical staff at the clinic until I feel comfortable jumping in on my own.

I will continue to keep you updated. Thanks for reading the blog and PLEASE leave comments. It is nice to hear from you. Share the blog with family and friends so more people can see and learn from my experience.

Lots of love,

Jake

Jambo,

Habari - how are things, you may ask? Nzuri asante - fine thanks. Lol. Today is day two. I just finished the first of two orientation days. We learned a lot of Swahili today which will be very useful everywhere, but especially at the medical clinic. I found out today that my placement is strictly out-patient and that it is super busy as the Kabete Rehab Clinic services nearly 500,000 people.

There were five volunteers that were in my orientation and like me arrived on the 14th of February. Two of the other volunteers are Canadian Nurses as well, friends. One from Vancouver and one from Calgary. They grew up together as kids. They will be in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp three hours north of Nairobi, working in a clinic there.

The other two volunteers, one from Langley, B.C. and another from New Zealand are volunteering in a children's home an hour outside of Nairobi.

I am still feeling fine, safe and very EMOTIONAL. A lot of what I am seeing is surreal and feels like I should be seeing it in the news or on a commercial from my couch. My health is fine and I haven't had bad reactions to my anti-malaria medication. No bowel issues yet either.

Tomorrow I will have the second orientation day and then start in the clinic on Wednesday.

The videos won't upload from these computers here, the files are too big and the internet is too slow. So I will have to compile them when I get back. For now you will have to visualize through the photos.

I miss everyone, and am really reflecting on my life in Canada. So simple and so much easier than the lives lived here.

Kwaherini - Bye.

Here are three siblings. They are taking out the bed pan they use in their house as a toilet. The family members all use this to go to the bathroom, walk out of their bedroom size house for family of five, and empty the contents into the stream of sewage outside their door. I am in such disbelief and am so thankful for what I have.



Here is only one of many pictures I have from walking through Kibera. I cried after leaving this place. You would not believe the living conditions for the 800,000 Kenyans. The sewage runs right through their metal, tin housing, and walk ways that are very narrow. The smells are horrific as you can imagine. They cook their wood on coal on the dirt and have to wash their clothes in not so clean water. Even with such quality of life, the people were so friendly to us as we walked through there (mainly because we had a tour guide, Peter). Peter was the location manager for the movie Constant Gardener and has been interviewed in magazines such as National Geographic. He works with my volunteer organization, VICDA, and has been living in the slum since he was a kid. When I asked him why he doesn't leave (because he clearly makes a ton of money, we payed well for our tour) he simply said he doesn't want to turn his back on his people and he calls the slums home - as many do.



This was me with one of Charity's two daughters. They love getting their picture taken, as well as touching and being next to foreigners. Sometimes you have to pull yourself away and put your camera in your bag for them to stop surrounding you.



Charity, our house Mama, took us to Church the very first morning I got to Nairobi on Sunday. I had been awake since Friday morning and arrived at 5am. At 10am we were on our way to church and I sat through a three hour service. The service was incredible, singing, dancing, children performances, a very loud pastor and a welcoming chai tea ceremony for us foreigners at the end. What an experience.



This is how PACKED the 'Matatus' are. A matatu is a small van that is used as local buses for people. They get so jam-packed and go about 1oo km/hr on the tiny side roads. The 'conductor' who takes the money and instructs the driver when to stop usually hangs out the side of the fast moving van. Crazy.




Here is where I am living while in Kenya. It is the volunteer house - Frontier House, and the caretaker's name is Charity. We all call her Mama, which is the respectful Swahili name for her. There are about eight of us staying here right now, with three bedrooms with bunk beds and one girl has a room to herself as she has already been here for 4 months and will be staying another two. Admirable.