Yellow House

February 3, 2007

So.. where was I?

Friday I went out to Maseno-Ratta for a mobile assessment clinic. Maseno is an area I suspect I will find myself in often. About 30 minutes towards Busia (on the Ugadan border) by matatu, Maseno is the location of a university and two of the eight Kisumu area schools I will serve. In addition two of the three community based rehab groups are out this way. So.. I left home at 7:30 am (reluctantly- I never expected to have to get to work so early.. this isn’t the Africa I remember!!) and headed out.. took the matatu, met my colleagues, waited for some students who were joining us and then en masse we boarded boda-bodas (bikes with cushions on the back). I can’t help grinning whenever there is a big group of people going somewhere on the back of bikes. It’s such a funny sight. Anyway.. once again, we were in rural Kenya. Small farms and huts amidst lush greenery. Quality of life for poor Kenyans is certainly much better than that of many other people living in poverty. They are blessed with space and fresh produce, and right now plenty of water.. though this area is known for it’s fertile lands. On a less blessed not are those we saw at the clinic (which was really just an empty school room).

The difficulty with community clinics is.. you know where these families live and in the case of Maseno-Ratta there just isn’t anywhere to refer them. We met a blind 16 year old, and though there is a blind-deaf program nearby, she needs to lose another sense to qualify. We saw a few kids who really just needed to go to a doctor, and many who needed to be seen by someone about deformed legs and feet which I seem to recall from working with Amy Ross in Swaziland can be fixed with physio and binding to straighten the foot out (I am sure that is a massive oversimplification.. but I think it is all treatable). It was funny though, one of the students was writing out a referral for speech therapy and I asked him where he was referring the child to (I was interested!) and he was writing it out for me! I did point out that as I was here, perhaps a formal referral letter was a bit excessive. But, these students are very well meaning and they will be special education teachers next year so we are trying to nurture them as much as possible.

The saddest saddest case was a 13 year old boy who at first appearances you might think was autistic. However I think he is just so mentally retarded that he can’t function independently on any sort of level (no speech, not able to walk). Amongst the problems is that fact that mum is carrying him everywhere and of course he is heavy! Mum sat there and wept through the whole meeting, but interestingly enough the boy noticed. He didn’t appear to have the cognitive capacity to respond to his mother’s sadness but he definitely noticed it and just stared and stared at her which was the only volitional eye gaze I could detect. Mum is frustrated because any special education units have turned him away because he isn’t toilet trained and can’t feed himself. I suspect she is also just tired. We are going to do a home visit to assess how we can help with his feeding, maybe even an adapted cup or bottle would ease the meal time. We might also get him a wheelchair or a cart but it depends on the terrain around their home. The problem with home visits is she is likely to make special food which won’t help us problem solve the situation.. we reiterated several times that we were not coming as guests. The whole going to people’s homes makes my stomach drop. Mainly because I know they want to feed us and it’s the last thing I want. It’s usually also awfully sad at a bone ache sort of level. It’s amazing what humans can endure. Especially when you consider this is peaceful existence and it’s hard, let alone those in similar situation who are dealing with friction.

Speaking of which. Kenya’s elections are scheduled for this year. So we have all been forewarned to expect an escalation in violence as November approaches. The main party that won in the last election has splintered into factions. The top people are basically duking it out for power and as I understand it are appealing to their ethnic groups for support. So technically in Kisumu, most people are all Luor so should all be supporting the same candidate, but it isn’t that simple. It doesn’t place me in any sort of danger, it just means Kenya will be in the international news increasingly because of these skirmishes. I actually read the newspaper pretty regularly, but political information has very little retention power in my brain. Nonsense about seatbelt laws and which bus company is in trouble for some minor infraction however stays around for weeks and bubbles out at ridiculous times!! Talking about election though the Kenyans are very excited about Barack Obama.

Oh and a final word about community outreach… we take boda bodas out there, but of course there are none when we want to leave so we pretty much have to make the hour or so trek back by foot. Saunter perhaps is a better descriptor. But I generally spend the time thinking about all the things I like about Kenya!!

So. I have spent my weekend working on a final report for Leap, reading, napping and cooking. I bought black beans at the market Friday and actually soaked and cooked them and had them with rice, green pepper, onion, tomato and some cilantro. Not as tasty as I hoped. Need to get some hot peppers next time. And oh how I miss cheese. But yesterday.. had the best fish sandwich I have ever eaten (yay ra) and chatted to a German girl. We ended up going out to a bar.. there were plans for dancing but quizzically the lady who looks out for me (actually she also cleans my house, collects my water and does my washing too) told me I either needed to come home at 11pm or not until the morning!! What the hell sort of advice is that? If you aren’t coming home until late, don’t bother? What did she think I was going to do all night? So I concurred and came home at 11:30ish. And I wore my fabulous wedges. A last minute packing addition, and I was very glad for them too. It’s nice to have one pair of going out shoes.

It’s Sunday. My now designated pool day but I don't think I will make it. Spent most of the day futzing around in attempts to be crafty. I am embarrassed to explain further. Headed to Butere-Mumias in the morning. Be back online Wednesday.. oh and I uploaded some pics. Fairly terrible, but I couldn't see what was on the stick to choose from. ha. b