Duck and Cover

What an amazing 24 hours. Yesterday I slept through the roosters wake up call, so didn’t get to see the kids in the morning. I spent the morning in a daze, just getting reacquainted with any staff that were here when I was here. Then early afternoon Kate showed up, she ‘s the woman who was my roommate when I was here in 2003. She’s 67, has started a school for girls in the village and is thriving here. She had Dr. George with her, he’s staying at the school with her. She drove Sarah and I and Dr. George down to the village center to the new grocery store. It’s so big, called Nakumatt. Kind of like the Kenyan Wal-mart. Has everything, but not a whole lot of Kenyan shoppers, mostly the British and American people who live here and the few Kenyan middle class villagers, The regular Kenyans still shop in the shanties that surround the center. Anyway, I was able to pick up a few staples, it’s all pretty expensive. Then we sat and had some iced tea and caught up on things. Kate feels pretty comfortable here but still struggles with the inefficiency. She then took us to this clinic down the road (for a country with as many clinics, at least by and in Nairobi you would think people would be healthier) that’s run by a Catholic church. We met the priest who was from Ireland and really nice, very funny. They have a dental clinic, counseling center, optical dept., pharmacy, once a week they do a mom/baby clinic.They say they see over a hundred patients that day alone. Dr. George and I have been invited to come help in the clinic. I’m pretty excited because I will get to do a lot and I will see a lot. They were very grateful for our help, say American medical people are a gift. The site is very nice and clean, very open and airy. The waiting room is actually an open atrium. Lots of flowers around, very well cared for. I am anxious to start, probably the week after next.
Then we went and visited Kate’s school. It’s in an old house, she has 43 girls living there, from 2 ½ to end of high school. She has created this warm, calm nurturing environment. Well structured, the kids go out to school.. They have all these responsibilities but also wonderful activities. They are all doing well in school, often would rather stay there then go home over break. They are all HIV-, which is less of a burden for kate, but they are also very poor. It was so fun to see the school bus arrive and all these girls get off in their uniforms and greet us so warmly. I think I will be spending my off time there!
When I got back to Nyumbani the Cottage D kids were there waiting for me. It was so fun, they have grown so, a few I didn’t even recognize. We laughed we cried we hugged and kissed and they pretty much didn’t leave my side. They showed me all the presents I had sent them, we talked about the 2 who had died. They are so glad that I am here for a long time. Sammy K is pretty sick, has a painful belly and a high fever. I talked to the nurse this afternoon and he said they had switched him from augmentin to rocephin Iv today and they thought that he was better. Its so weird, they don’t ever seem to really know what’s wrong, they just throw things at it until it hopefully gets better.
Mum ann is on her off days she will be back tomorrow, we are celebrating Christmas tomorrow night. Sarah, the Santa arrived intact and I know he is going to knock their socks off! Actually all our luggage arrived, nothing missing. I had dinner with the “big girls.” Now that ARVs are more accessible Nyumbani is transitioning from a hospice to a home, and the kids have to learn life skills. The older girls and boys are now in 2 new bigger cottages donated by Italy . They are learning to cook, take care of a home etc. My project will fit right in there. We had a great time and decided that they would teach me Swahili (goodluck!) and I would teach them Spanish! Thank you Rachel and Carolina !! When I left they all said “Buenos Noches Susan!” They invited me over to watch a movie on Saturday. I’m glad that I’m getting to know them better because they are who need to take my classes and it will help if we have a relationship.
This morning we headed over to the US Embassy, an ex-volunteer from England who now works at the British Embassy hooked us up with his roommate, a Kenyan named Martin who drives a cab while he saves money to go to college and study wildlife preservation. He picked us up and drove us there, took over an hour and a half, traffic here is like nothing you’ve ever seen. There’s no lines on the road, huge potholes that everyone has to stop and maneuver around, no stoplights, every kind of vehicle you can imagine, including animal, people walking and bicycling everywhere. Plus they all drive on the wrong side of the road. The noise and air quality are awful, but somehow it’s full of energy and everyone usually remains good natured. Since the downtown embassy was bombed in 98 they moved out to a different part of Nairobi . What was fun was seeing parts I had never seen before. Gated wealth and undescribable squalor all in the same block. The embassy is a fortress across the street from the UN complex, security is everywhere. I had to show my passport numerous times, get wanded, answer questions, Finally made it to the office of the Cultural Affairs Officer, who had met my plane. He took me to the security briefing.that was given by the head of security, About a dozen new state dept employees, or new to Kenya and me. He was a jerk, very cowboyish, insulting to Kenyans, it was especially funny after I found out he had been here only 6 months. I can’t imagine ever going to him if I was in trouble, his whole attitude was if something happened to you it was your fault and how stupid could you be. The embassy employees live in special residences, every one has a safe room where they go if their house is broken into or the embassy is being attacked. It locks down and they have special radios in them. The whole thing seemed kind of overdone and hysterical (which was also the opinion of some other people I met who have lived here for many years including the cultural attache) he also told us if we are in the embassy and hear a siren it means “duck and cover” we had a lot of laughs about that, I think it does though serve as a reminder to be careful and aware, like you are in any big city. We do live in dangerous time. I then met the educational attaché who was also very cool, he was the one who approved my Fulbright, he told me how glad he was that I had reapplied, they felt bad they couldn’t offer it the first time. He said that one of the differences in my application from the hundreds of others was that I had been here before and it showed my commitment to Kenya . His wife is head of USAID/Kenya and they are having me for dinner in the next few weeks. The life of a Fulbright scholar!! I was then introduced to the country coordinator for President Bush’s Pepfar program. He invited me to their next interteam meeting, in 2 weeks with CDC, UN UNAIDS, USAID, a whole alphabet of groups!! He said they are very interested in my project and would like to incorporate the curriculum in their work. It was all a little overwhelming, but very exciting. Fulbright really does open doors that I never could have gotten through before.
Sorry this is so long, I’m sure the next ones will be a lot shorter.
I bought a mobile phone, to call me you dial 011-250-724-970-061 the cheapest way to do it is to go to callingcards.com, click on Kenya then mobile Nairobi $20.00 buys a lot of minutes. I will gladly accept calls anytime day or night.
We then went and met a friend of my sister Barbara’s. John Squires, who is on his way to climb Kilimanjaro. We went to another part of Nairobi called Westlands, and met at this great Mediterranean restaurant, the best food I’ve ever had here. We were joined by some friends of his who work for Land Of Lakes in int’l development, Great food, great conversation. More interesting connections. I am now so tired, and I’m sure you are tired of reading all this. I will post again tomorrow and I’m sure I will have lots less to say. I hope you are enjoying the blog, it’s so much easier for me than individual emails though I will respond when you email. Even though there is wireless here, it’s still a little slow.I will also work this weekend on putting some pictures on it. No pictures of the embassy though, they would probably shoot you on sight. Miss you all, always remember “duck and cover.”
PS wireless was not working on Thursday night so this is a little late. Pray for Sammy K, he is very ill. When he woke up long enough to wrap his feverish (temp is 40) arms around me he whispered I’m glad you’re here to take care of me, I knew I had come back to the right place.