The title of this blog [Alyssa’s Kenya Adventure] is
quite a fitting description for the 2 ½ weeks I spent in Nairobi last
month. I find it difficult to give a quick
answer to the question “How was your
trip?” because travelling halfway around the world to visit a health clinic
is a bit different than going on a vacation.
In this first blog installment, I will attempt to bring you to Nairobi
and give you a taste of the beauty, the challenges, the sights, and the
people. Enjoy.
 |
| The road the clinic is on |
Let’s cover some of the basics of traveling to
Kenya. It takes around 21 flight hours
and over 30 hours travel time to get to Nairobi, Kenya from Fresno. Don’t forget to add in the 10 hour time difference! For the most part, I actually enjoy airports
and airplanes. I like to think I have
certain aspects of the traveling process down to a science…like going through
security. In terms of going through
customs, it is relatively easy and I bought my tourist visa at the airport for
$50. My luggage arrived, which is always
a small miracle. I was greeted at the
airport by Peter & Francisca Inoti, my host and the founders of the
clinic. And the adventure began…
 |
| Peter & Francisca and 2 of their 4 sons |
My host family live in a modest, middle class home in a
section of Nairobi called Imara Daima. {No,
I did not stay in a grass or mud hut, though they do exist in other parts of
Kenya} Imagine a suburban subdivision,
though add in a few more animals and a few less luxuries like washing machines
and kitchen appliances. I was spoiled
with my own room and bathroom, as their two youngest sons were away at boarding
school. Most days we had running water
and electricity, though this was not a given.
I slept underneath a mosquito net and brushed my teeth with the bottled
water I saved each day.
A typical day…
-Wake
up around 8am. I was glad there didn’t
seem to be any rush to get out of the house!
-Shower (sometimes running
water, sometimes a bucket), get dressed…I typically wore a long skirt and
T-shirt (how I still managed to get hit on was truly a mystery!), spray myself
with mosquito repellent & sunscreen, and slap on a little makeup
-Breakfast. Some menu items included boiled sweet
potatoes, mandaazi (fried bread), hard-boiled eggs, mango, bananas, bread, and
always tea. Their tea is heavy on the
milk and sugar, and light on the tea. I
always struggled to drink even half a mug-full.
-Head to the clinic around
10ish. Kenyans are not time-oriented, so
it is best not to expect a schedule or to make specific plans. They live about a 15 minute walk from the
clinic, though sometimes Peter would drive us, as he ran errands throughout the
day.
-Spend the day at the clinic and
eat lunch from the lady who runs a small restaurant across the way
-Sometimes in the afternoons, I
would go with Peter into town to run errands or to pay someone a visit
-Go home sometime in the
evening, anywhere between 5 and 8, depending on how busy the clinic was, if it
was raining, if we were going to walk or take a matatu…
-Rest while dinner was being
prepared…some days I took a nap, other times I journaled or read Les Miserables
 |
| Dinner |
-Dinner around 9:30 or 10. I came to appreciate the process of cooking a
meal from scratch, including the slaughtering of the meat. The dinner menu varied but typically included
some sort of meat stew (chicken, goat, rabbit), some cooked vegetable (cabbage,
kale, spinach), and either rice or ugali (maize flour & water combined to
make a sort of paste) or my favorite, chapati….a “Kenyan tortilla”
-After dinner we typically would
have long discussions about politics, culture, healthcare…or watch the news or
Kenyan soap operas
-11ish…Off to bed….I was always
exhausted!
Aside from Sunday (which is treated like a holiday), this
was pretty much was daily life. There
was an ease about it, though I will admit not having a set plan was frustrating
at times! I came to realize that
although my life at home is arguably busy in that I juggle my time and energy
between many different things, I also am incredibly spoiled that I do not have
to spend nearly as much time on necessary tasks like preparing food, washing
clothes, washing dishes, walking places (or sitting in AWFUL Nairobi traffic),
and constant cleaning (as everything is seemingly always dirty). Life for the average Kenyan is much less
about trying to do as much as possible in 24 hours than it is about 1) surviving
and 2) spending time with people, and a close third…going to church.
I wish I could have blogged in real-time, but I did not
have ready access to Internet. I did
keep a journal, so I wanted to share a few excerpts from that.
Sometimes I think ‘why are people so afraid
to go to a place like this’ and then little by little, I am reminded of some of
the things that take some getting used to….like sleeping under a mosquito net,
or wearing clothes that cover as much of your body as possible, even if it is
hot and humid. Or that running water is
a luxury and hot running water is royalty.
That the roads are bumpy and the traffic rules seem more optional. That you need flip flops in the bathroom and
that dinner may be something you have never seen and you will not only eat it,
but have seconds. That even though
people speak English, sometimes you have no idea what they are saying. But I feel at home and at peace. I love the smells, the activity, the way
Kenyans have adapted to their circumstances.
I just witnessed the epitome of
globalization. Francisca was holding a
live, bound chicken (aka dinner) in one hand and digging through her purse for
her cellphone with the other…while we were climbing in a matatu already full of
~18 people.
 |
| The chapati I made all by myself! |
Much more to come…I will describe the clinic, the patient
population, and the incredible work that is done there in the next post, so
stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment