The Lwala's End

The end to an amazing visit in Lwala...A spring is opened, the homestead welcomes a new goat (Bambi), and Wednesday afternoon was filled with wooden man pieces and condom demonstrations. The last week in Lwala has been crazy, crazy. This week was full of visitors and good culminations to an amazing visit. Monday was my last day at the school teaching full time. They really are a bright group of kids and it kills me to think that, for most of them, this is the end of their education. Secondary school is not free in Kenya (high school) and can be anywhere from 400-600 USD a year. Some kids cannot even afford the uniform that is required to attend Primary School (around 300 shillings or 4 or 5 dollars). They all have amazing spirit. One of my favorite things to see at the school was every Monday and Friday morning the whole school gathers from 8:30 to 8:00 to clean the grounds and sweep and then from 8:00 to 8:20 to have Ceremony. All years assemble around the wooden flag pole and it begins with an 8 year calling the drill presenting team. The stand 3 by 5 and turn, left right, left right…yet almost every person turns a different way as the direction is called so that by the end of the drill they are facing 15 different ways. After the flag is raised the whole school stands at attention singing the Kenyan national anthem at the prompting of the 8 year who was previously calling the drill. After 8:20 then the upper and lower primary split and have 35 minutes of praise…which upon hearing about this I thought...oh good a 30 minute of silence to pray and have silence in the school….boy was I wrong. Praise in Lwala is something I only wish I could have the guts to join in on. Singing and dancing for 30 minutes straight, probably 200 students in one room…no one leading this but themselves. Praise and worship is the center of this community, not only in the schools but in everyday life for these Luos. SDA (seventh day Adventist) or Catholic, the people of this village find amazing strength to deal with things that most cannot explain otherwise, like HIV/AIDS. Our last week in Lwala gave us insight into part of the village that we had not seen and that few, even villagers, never see. Despite the leaps and bounds in this area for HIV testing and awareness there is a taboo that hangs over the village. Those who know are shunned for being promiscuous and dirty, while those who do not know and do not want to know are risking their lives as well as their families and those who come in contact with them. Testing is rare and treatment is even more difficult to obtain. ARV drugs are free from the government in government run facilities, but if they cannot get to a facility is no point. Families in Lwala who know they are HIV positive are 10 K from the nearest government center if they can make it. If they do have the strength to make the walk then that day the garden goes unattended and the family does not eat. If they do not have the strength or health to make the walk then they go without drugs and probably do not have the strength to tend to the garden either. It is a vicious circle that HIV/AIDS inflicts on people in this and many other Kenya villages. On Wednesday we met with I Choose Life and Kenya University based organization that established Peer Educators with knowledge of HIV/AIDS and ways to spread the knowledge of prevention and treatment. This group of 3 students from Kisumu met with us and the Kimedgi/Lwala HIV support group of about 50 women and a few men to discuss condom use…and brought along their wooden demonstration pieces. Despite the giggling and laughing the demonstration was settled under, I feel like the message both our group and the support group away was that knowledge is contagious, and once you spread the word to one or two people that it can only have a positive effect on the situation to come. A family that we have gotten very close to over the last 3 weeks is one such family that lives with the burden of HIV. The father and at least two of the three co-wives are HIV positive and they have 6 children total to date. We are fairly certain that the 25 year old co-wife Mintoby (who already has 5 children, oldest 14 years) is pregnant again. This is another circle that involves the HIV virus. With some pre-natal care, the transmission of the virus to the baby via the mother is slight…but what substantially increases this risk is breast-feeding, but in Lwala if a baby does not breast feed…it starves. It just seems like there is no way to break this circle and the women I have seen fighting the battle against HIV and seemingly their husband at the same time are so strong. The culture that one wants to see here is beautiful from any angle, but there are parts that 3 weeks of visiting can barely begin to scrape the surface. The long cheek bones and slender statures of women are all around and I can only imagine what they have faced in their lives compared to mine. There is no comparison. I do not know how these women work so hard and endure so much in a lifetime while they look 28 years at 50 and even younger at 60. It is an amazing strength you feel when you sit with the women’s group and although only a few women speak English their smiles and laughter speak volumes. The spring is now open as of Friday and fenced off. It is amazing the work that got done by pure manual labor and 6 days. I spent one day with the women hauling rocks and I was exhausted. They would place the rocks on their heads and with no hands walk gracefully to the pile and without stopping return for more rocks. Amazing. Amazing. Yesterday was our last day in the clinic and I helped everyone from Josh in the pharmacy, Rose in the observation, and fred in the lab. It was a nice end to the clinic. Hopefully I will be able to come back with more knowledge than I have now and do so much more for the community. Last night was probably the latest I have stayed up in two months…We started cooking Abbie’s birthday cake at around 5…and at 1:30 it was still not done, but we soldiered on and woke her up to a rousing round of happy birthday at 1:30 where she thought it was totally a dream. I hope she had a good birthday in Lwala! There is so much more that I could put in this e-mail. Like about the baby goat that I have been playing with for three days. Or how each patient in the clinic had the most amazing heart wrenching story. Or about the photo session that random took place as Dani and I were leaving the clinic one day where we took pictures with almost every employee that the clinic has. There is not enough time to type now enough time left in Lwala to spend it on a computer. We are so excited to be going on our safari and we know it will be such an awesome experience…but it is so sad to be leaving Lwala. I want to go home, but I don’t want to face the paperwork that awaits me…I do not want to go home because I do not want to leave Lwala so soon…oh the story of my life. This has been the most amazing summer though and I cannot wait to come back to Lwala and share the experience all over again. Home in 5 days. Love you all and I cannot wait to share my pictures or experiences in person!

Short trip to Kisii

So we came into Kisii today for a short trip that turned into a trip from hell...two people threw upon the Matatu, Abby forgot the group credit card, my bank is frozen and won't let me withdrawal money, and the cell phone we borrowed from another girl is locked with an access key...it is not the day to go to kisii! The spring is coming along nicely. We are going soap stone shopping today, but I don't have as much money as I wish I did because I can't access it!!! AH!!! These next few days are crazy busy and we are leaving Monday at like 4 am for Kisumu to meet our safari company(who won't call us back! eek). I did laundry by hand this Sunday..it took two hours! Quite an experience. A small group of us got up on Sunday at 5:30 and trecked the 2 mi to the mountain or "got" in dholuo before sunrise and had the most amazing experience. I took almost a whole roll of film on my big camera! I finished teaching regularly yesterday so that I can help with the spring, bed nets, and participate with all the festivities that we have going on this week. On my way out of the school I almost stepped on a little bat on the ground...really creepy animals. Abby's birthday is on Friday and there is a home Football game on Thursday afternoon from the Lwala Football club that we are all really excited about. We know a lot of the guys on the team, like Japolo and Fred and Omondi and Zach. I don't have a terrible amount of time right now, but I just wanted to drop and line and say hello! Lwala is still somewhere that you cannot pass someone without greeting them, the pineapple is the best in the world, and every sunset and sunrise could be another water color. Oriti for now

Snake Bites and 8th grade Math

The days this past week have flown by. We have had many visitors to the house for treatment including one man who had horrible edema in his feet and legs complicated by a branch that had wrapped itself around and created these huge ulcers. Come to find out this has been bothering him for about 20 years and the branch was about 10 years previous. It was a horrible mess of gauze and skin and all we can do really is chance his bandaging every day and the clinic referred him to the hospital in Rongo for further treatment, maybe amputation, and tests for diabetes and vascular disorders. It was so sad, but he had a good spirit about his situation. Our fourth was uneventful with some singing in the evening, but that was sadly disrupted by a man who had been bitten by a small black mamba! He came to our house for help but because it was so dark and muddy we could only clean it and wrap it tight and wait til the morning. The next day they took him to the hospital in Kisii (where we check internet) and he is still there today. Hopefully we can bring him back to Lwala when we leave this afternoon. Abby said that visitors like this were a multiple per night thing last summer and they had decreased immensely sense the opening of the clinic. I started taking Cipro on Tuesday when I really just felt like hell and slept for most of the torrential down pouring in the afternoon. I felt like a brand new person by Wednesday morning! The illness has hit pretty much everyone one by one...most recently Abby who thought she had a stomach of steel. But we are all pretty good right now. I have taught Math to eighth graders every day this week and it has slowly gotten better. The first day was awful. I was warned that they might try to trick me so I was ready for it but still was bad. First...they kept giving me hard problems from another text book to make sure I knew how to do them (I did them algebraically to show off and then did it how they understood). Then every time there was a break they said no no, no break...keep teaching... so I taught for 1.5 hours instead of 35 min. THEN! The next teacher came in and he saw that someone had put a machete above my head on a beam!!!! Talk about difficult. We decided I was primed for inner-city schools now. The school has been every morning and every afternoon I have been at the clinic either helping Rose (the head nurse) or helping Josh (the pharmacist) give out meds or injections. I have seen so many children and patients and it is amazing the different reactions that mzungos invoke. From giggles and smiles to thank-you thank you to blood-curdling screams...sometimes we just have to leave the room to allow Rose to get any work done. They are seeing anywhere from 40 to 75 people a day with one nurse and one pharmacist and one helper. We are doing all that we can while we are here. Tuesday night, I believe, we met with the women's group from the village to discuss how we can help them with basket sales in the states in order for them to start a co-op of chickens with a new chicken coop and crop of chickens to generate revenue for the women through chicken, eggs and chicks. They were so strong and beautiful and all had very distinct ideas of how the project was going to happen. Grace (Fred and Miltons sister who is 18 going on 35 for all that she has been through and attends boarding school in the states) translated for us and really helped us get a lot done. After the meeting we danced and sang and took a bunch of group pictures. Really a cool experience. I still wasn't quite feeling well so I was more of a picture taker, but still a really neat thing to see. The meeting was in Dani's house (the Ochieng's grandmother) and all during the meeting the women were making fun of Dani for "making her medicine" i.e. smoking weed. She is also the local bar apparently and brews her own moonshine from potatoes. Apparently it is a very very strong vodka like alcohol...and yes, she is in her 80s. It has been a fast week. I can't believe that we only have one more week left in Lwala. Time has absolutely no meaning here. We wake up at about 6:30 every day to do chores so that DaDa (the 14 yr old orphan that lives with the Ochiengs) can have a break from dishes, fire, sweeping, mopping, and collecting water in order to get her to school on time. We then eat breakfast and I usually head on to school before the official breakfast begins. I am still learning the ropes at school just as far as the teachers and schedule go. You can teach now...or not...you can rest now...or not...its SO lax. On Mondays and Fridays they have a pre-school ceremony of flag raising and singing the national anthem of Kenya with a drill team. Then there is praise and worship time for a while before classes. It is a really cool thing to see. I have been giving a lot of advice to some people who are trying to go to college in the states. Japolo is one (he is 21 and a teacher at the school and one of the Ochiengs good friends who lives on the property...so great...one of my really good friends here) and multiple teachers at the primary school and their friends. They are all taking SATs and preparing essays. It is really hard to remember what to tell them but they are all so smart and motivated it is really hard not to think that they cannot succeed in the states. The water project is well underway and the tearing away of the land has already been done! We are hoping to have all the supplies by Monday and have it finished before we leave. It should be an amazing leap forward for the community to have two protected springs! I might think of more for now but I am running out of steam! Oriti!

First Berayn'a from Lwala

Everything is wonderful here. The scenery is beautiful and so lush! I am so sorry I haven't been able to write or call but this is the first time we have gotten into Kisii (where the internet is). We are doing so many different projects really...I don't know where to begin. We are trying to get the ball rolling to build the protection for a spring and we have the ideas, plans, and money but everything is ten times slower here. I have made many new friends and I am slowly learning the language, Dholuo. The people we live with are from the Luo tribe which is the same one as Kanye West and Barak Obama families. haha. One of my favorite things to say is Berayn'a which is like very good or how are you (its pronounced Bear Ainia). A little boy named Harrison is basically my buddy and translator. He is 14 and is so smart and curious and speaks very good english. I have carried two buckets of water on my head every day from the spring in order to bathe and wash dishes...kinda crazy but its getting easier. When we want to go to town we walk 5 mi then take a Matatu (taxi) for 45 min to an hour on these awful roads. Then 5 mi home...so in two days I have walked 20 mi. I am not saying I am going to lose weight though because they feed us so well. We eat tons of beans and cabbage and kale and beef and some chicken. Eggs, and tons of mango and bananas! And most of the meat and rice is soaked in grease or butter. They have these amazing chapati (like a cross between tortillas/pie crust/ and pita). Everything is okay if it is boiled, peeled, or fried. Those are the rules. In the mornings we drink masala tea with milk and fresh ginger and eat peanut butter on bread with some boiled sweet potatoes (soo delicious). I have helped some in the clinic as well. There are just lines after lines every day it is crazy! I take temps and BP and calm the children, but most are way to scared by the Mzungo!!! There is a myth that children tell that Mzungos eat people. They are so limited in what they can do. But we are starting the bed net project and doing some public health things at the primary school in Lwala. Three weeks is such a short time here because the world moves so slowly in comparison to home. I have felt good until today I have a little tummy trouble, but not too bad at all. Lwala is so safe...basically fields and cows and goats for miles. Our ot is mud walls and floors with a tin roof...the bed net (or as I call the it impenetrable fortress) is kind of cozy.And bucket showers are on the most exhilarating things! I can't spell still. We are leaving in two weeks for our safari so it feels like it just flies by! We lose track of days like crazy. Some of our favorite phrases in Dholuo: "kiki wondre" which means, "don't cheat yourself." You say this jokingly to someone at meal time when they're too full for a second helping.- "nang'o" which means, "whaddup"- "owimore" which means, "the sky is closing (goodnight)"- "lik lik mamit" which means, "sweet dreams"- "awacho Dholuo matin" which means "I only speak a little Dholuo!"- and finally, "akia" which means, "I don't know" (its really useful). Last night, the Lwala choir came to our ot (house) to sing. There was only one kerosene lamp in the room, giving the performance an amazingly mystic feel. The women in the choir wore beautiful headscarves and kangas (a colored fabric) wrapped around their long, lean bodies. Their voices were rich and deep and sent chills down my back. Fred and Grace got up and sang and danced and Fred has a beautifully deep rich bass voice. Most of the music was in swahili and some in dhouo. I recorded some on my camera and hopefully will be bringing that back with me! The quality is decent but good enough to get the point across. At one point the choir began to dance rhythmically around the room, and we definitely got up and danced as well as we could along with them. Most of our conversation is centered around what it means to serve and the purpose and how to serve in an international capacity. It is hard that when Kat ( my roommate in our ot) stop and think that 1 out of almost every two women that we meet is HIV positive. And trust me...just walking somewhere everyone wants to talk to the MZUNGO!!!! We shake so many hands and speak the little conversation we can speak. They laugh when we answer them in "the mother tongue."This is all I can really write right now, but I have so much more to say! I wish you all could be here to see all of this. It is amazing but a constant reminder of how little we can do for what they really need. I don't know when I can write again but hopefully it will be soon. Love you all. Oriti,Natalie