Dad has arrived!

I am happy to report that my dad has finally arrived in Kenya after much anticipation. He arrived late last night, instead of yesterday morning, because of some delays in Chicago made him miss all his subsequent flights. Being the seasoned traveler that he is, he managed to get them to reroute him all the way to Nairobi. The glitch (of course there was a glitch) was that he had a layover in South Africa. If you know your african geography then you'll see that it's a little out of the way. Like, across the continent out of the way. It put him about 12 hours behind schedule, but he arrived in one piece. After a white-knuckled drive from the airport (nothing particular happened, that's just how all driving is here) we arrived safe and sound in Maseno.

We've spent the better part of his first day at the St. Philip's apiary (that's where Steven's beehives are) and later that day they officiated over the first Maseno beekeepers association meeting :)

Dad has already made fast friends with Owen, our favorite 3-year old
:) Dad obviously doesn't speak much swahili, but owen doesn't seem to
mind a carried on a whole conversation with us today when he joined us
for lunch. Dad played the "kill the spider that is my hand" game, and
that transends all languages.

He came to my HIV support group meeting today and the ladies loved him. He made many of them very happy when he presented them with reading glasses. Now they won't have to hold their beading 3 feet from their faces when they're making their crafts :)

As soon as I can get to a faster computer I will post some pictures for you all to enjoy. I have been documenting on camera or film, every even remotely interesting thing that happens while my dad is here, as promised to my mom :)

jessie

Nursing students and new shoes

I apologize for the lapse in my writing. As they say in Kenya, I have been lost. But now I am found and I will update you all on my recent escapades. For the last 2 weeks I have been the host and cultural guide for two different groups of nursing students and instructors from NY.

Despite all the craziness that comes with getting a group of 10+ people to do anything together and on time, I absolutely loved getting to show off my little corner of Kenya. For many of the girls it was their first time out of the US. Traveling to Africa isn’t exactly the smoothest transition to international travel, but they handled it well and I was continually impressed.
After the 2 week whirlwind, Steven and I were invited to accompany them on a safari to the Maasai Mara, which was absolutely fantastic. The lodge we stayed in was sinfully luxurious and the food was better than anything I’ve ever had in america. Issac, our faithful guide, was superb, and got us within spitting distance of lions, hippos, giraffe, water buffalo, zebras, and elephants. Did you know that no two zebra’s stripes are the same?? Their uniqueness is equaled only by the snowflake.
We decided to stay in Nairobi for the next day since it was our anniversary. Yup-the big 04. Steven took me to the giraffe center and the elephant orphanage. It’s not every day you get to spend your anniversary petting baby elephants and feeding giraffes. Did you know that giraffes have 18-inch gray tongues that I would argue have the dexterity of the human hand?
Being cheap people who tend to overestimate their own physical abilities, we decided to forgo the taxi and walk from our hostel to our two activities for the day since they were in the same area of town. One hour later we arrived at the Elephant orphanage sweaty, dusty, and blistered (I insisted on wearing flip-flops with my new skirt instead of hiking sandals). Thankfully we met a wonderful woman named Donna, who took pity on us and let us hitch a ride with her for a good portion of the afternoon since she was also going to see the giraffes. She even took us to a wonderful restaurant for lunch, which was definitely better than the granola bars and beef jerky we had planned on :) Another great anniversary for the books!

We’re now back in Maseno busy as little bees. I got to see my little darlings at the Phoebe House again today, which always strengthens my spirit. I was feeling a little disheartened in regards to the phoebe house because I just can’t seem to get things started and moving. They need to move into a different location because the one they’re in right now doesn’t have a legitimate kitchen, they have no land to grow their own veggies, and there is literally no place for the kids to play or even do school work. Hopefully we'll find something soon. We've just taken 2 more kids, so our total is up to 4 adults, and 10 kids. This picture is of Brain, 6, being very generous with his high 5's. The visiting nursing group brought them all a few new outfits and a pair of shoes. Naomi was so cute with her little pink sandals on. She just stood still and stared at her feet. Apparently this was her first pair of shoes (she's 3 years old) and I think she wasn't sure how to walk in them. This little one is Arnold, a relatively new inhabitant of the Phoebe House. He is 3 years old, has a healthy appetite, and his prefered outfit is a t-shirt, tiny tennis shoes, and nada else. Undies are overrated in his book.
That's all for now. The official countdown is down to less than a month until my dad gets here! Yeah! One of our friends have offered to slaughter a goat for his arrival :)

Jessie

Jessie

Avacados and Earth Tones

Yikes, it's been awhile since I've updated this blog. My apologies. Life has been busy here getting ready for visitors. First a group of nursing students are coming from NY in about a week, the next is my Dad coming in July!! When I do have a spare minute and want to have a little art therapy I have been plugging away at the mural in the pediatrics ward.
The Phoebe House is truckin' along. Every time I stop by there are new women and children there it seems. The youngest is a little girl named Naomi, who eyes are the size of saucers. Adorable. She has taken a particular fancy to Steven, and him to her. I wouldn't be surprised if we arrived home and found her in our suitcase :)
I brought some pills over the other day to treat them all for worms and was amazed at how each of the little ones just popped that bitter pill in their mouth and didn't complain a bit. They didn't even take it with water. I was a little less impressed when I later noticed some slimy pink tablets hidden under and sticking to Brian's feet (he's 4). I pointed to the tablets and made the "tst-tst-tst" noise-the kenyan sound for disapproval. He just started grinning sheepishly for being caught in the act, and he let me redose him without much of a fight. What can I say, he's adorable-so all's forgiven.
Since I've strategically gotten word out that I love avocados, I've been getting them by the bag full from friends who have them growing in their yards and falling on their heads. To combat this influx of quickly ripening cados, I made a batch of guacamole today that fit into a good sized punch bowl. You can never have too much of a good thing, right?
We are also busy getting the Mother's Union shop well stocked for the big group of visitors coming soon. I have been drawing up some design modification for the ladies to make some things more appealing to Americans. They make the most beautiful and well made baskets and such, but I'm trying to impress upon them a variety of colors and also some neutral tones, as hot pink and teal don't do in many American homes. They seemed perplexed by the terms "neutral" or "earth tones" until one of the women realized what we wanted and I heard the words "American" and "dull colors" in her explanation. To explain her point she pointed to mine and Steven's wardrobe for the day. We both happened to be wearing brown and khaki (I swear we do wear other colors). They all smiled and shook their heads in understanding.
That's all for now. Sorry there's no pictures, it sounds like this computer may blow up if I try one more time to upload an image.

jessie

Hive Drive

In 2003 Thomas Okore and his wife started a support group for widows and other disadvantaged people. In 2005 Thomas’ wife tragically passed away due to complications in child birth leaving him a single dad with five children to take care of. Since that time he has continued to lead Amen Widows and Orphans Group (AWOG) in between working, attending seminary school, and taking care of his kids. The main function of the group is mutual encouragement, although they do occasionally manage to pay school fees for orphans that are being looked after by group members. About a month ago Thomas and I began discussing the prospect of his group beginning a small-scale commercial beekeeping business. Our idea was to start with 20 hives and then re-invest a portion of the proceeds to purchase additional hives. The remaining money raised through the sale of honey would allow the group to have a much more tangible impact in the lives of its members.

One of the group members has some land that would be ideal for beekeeping. Between me and Jess’ dad (coming in July) they will have plenty of knowledge about business and beekeeping. The one thing they lack is the money needed to buy the hives and equipment. One beehive costs $55 which means 20 hives would cost $1100 – far more money than the group can come up with. However, if I can find 20 people back home to each purchase 1 hive we could have a lasting impact on the lives of the group members. In fact, the average beekeeping business of this size in Kenya earns $3600-$4800 per year. That’s a lot of money in a country where the average income is $900 per year. Anyone interested in partnering with us can either comment on this post or e-mail me at steventhomsen266@hotmail.com. If you’d like to help but can’t afford $55 we will also need 2 beesuits and a smoker.

Honey Harvest...kind of

We made our first attempt at harvesting last night and it was one of the most stressful things I've ever done. From the moment we opened our first hive until we decided to call it quits 2 hours later we were swarmed with hundreds of angry bees trying desperately to kill us. At one point I was having difficulty seeing because there were so many on my veil. In that 2 hour span we inspected and cleaned only 2 1/2 hives and retrieved NO honey. I wasn't terribly surprised by this because of the sad state of our hives. I'll be thrilled to get ANY honey from this harvest. My main goal is to get the hives cleaned up and put back together like they should be - a simple task if empty, rather difficult if filled with thousands of African bees. Once we get the hives back in working order the bees can get down to business and start making honey. As excited as I am for this to happen, I'm not in a great hurry to get back out there and do battle with those little demons.

Easter Sunday

Happy belated Easter everyone! We have enjoyed our first holiday in a different country. I began my day with rounding in the hospital as usual. And as always, pediatrics is my favorite ward :) The children are getting used to this strange mzungu (white person) who sometimes comes to listen to their lungs and sometimes comes to paint on the walls (and always squeezes their chubby cheeks).
After Hubert and I finished rounding we all went to church, where the sermon was in English, much to our relief. The hymns are still in Swahili though, which I kind of like. I've gotten a Swahili songbook so I can at least move my lips generally in the right direction :)
After church we went to visit our friend Alex, who lives on the mountain behind us. When he said he lives at the top.....he wasn't kidding. It was a rather grueling hike in a skirt ( I didn't want to take off my new Easter kanga yet), but the view was definitely worth it. We got to meet his wife and daughter who were home visiting that weekend. Since jobs can be very difficult to find here, especially ones that routinely get paid, so it is pretty common for a husband and wife to live in different cities simply because that's where they can find a job. That said, Alex's wife Rhoda, who is also a nurse, works at a government hospital and hasn't gotten paid in 8 months.
As for the Phoebe House, things are still going pretty smoothly. My dad (Stephen Jeter) raised $450 dollars at his school for the house, and they are thrilled. They are currently spending 500 shillings each day to buy water and have it carried in(they are too weak to do it themselves). That adds up to 15,000 shillings a month, which is almost double the cost of rent. So for 8,000 shillings, we are getting a water tank and a gutter system put in so they can use rain water. That will save them so much money! $450 is about 30,000 shillings, so we will be going into Kisumu tomorrow to investigate some small business ideas that the Phoebe house may be able to manage.
Not much else to report. I have a acquired a boyfriend (according to his mother) who is 8 months old and is absolutely adorable. In her patchy English his mom told me that he usually won't interact with any strangers, but he seems to have fallen in love with me. I guess that gives Steven a little competition. Good to keep him on his toes, I suppose :)

Going to see the bees

One minute I'm (Steven) walking down the road to visit my honeybees and the next I'm in the hospital cutting the cloths off a patient. What a curious turn of events - especially since I'm not a medical person . As I walked the rocky dirt road between the hospital and the beehives I came upon an emaciated man lying on the side of the road. As I approached I realized his pants were down and he was soaking wet from the heavy rains we had received all morning. I came around to his front and saw an open gash on his forehead about 2 or 3 inches in length. A sense of dread came over me as I realized he was not moving and that he may not be alive. I looked closer and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw his chest move up and down ever so slightly. I began asking the frequent passers by if they knew him or knew what had happened or if anyone had called for help. A security guard said he had most likely been dumped there at about 7:30 that morning - it was now 9:30. Fortunately I live with 4 medical people and had all there numbers in my phone because the idea of 911 emergency response is laughable here. As I was calling them a police truck drove by that I flagged down. I pointed to the man laying in the road and they slowly got out of their truck and sauntered over to the man. They somewhat reluctantly agreed to help me pick him up and put him in the back of the truck and take him to the hospital. As we moved him he began to wake up and groan in pain, although he was not coherent at this point. We got him to the hospital, lifted him onto a stretcher and took him inside. The man was so tense that we could not get his shirt off for an exam. As the medical staff struggled to remove the shirt he moaned in pain so I decided to cut it off of him rather than cause him such pain.

I wish I could say the hospital nursed him back to health and now he's fine, but unfortunately the man turned out to be a schizophrenic which in this country means he's doomed to wander the streets and will never get better. All we can do is focus on the ones whose lives we can change.

Weekend in Kakamega

This is Steven and I in front of our little banda where we stayed in Kakamega forest. Isn't that cute! It gets you right in the middle of the forest with the wildlife. Literally. After lunch on Saturday we came back to find that little porch section full of monkeys. And they also like to jump from the treetops onto the grass roof, which makes a loud thud and then smaller thuds and they wrestle with each other. I call it monkey thunder :) The butterflies were amazing of course, and we also got to see how they extract essential oils from plants in the rainforest that they use to make herbal products. It's a very cool conservation project they have going on there.
This crazy little guy dropped out of a tree right in front of Steven's camera. I think I spent a whole afternoon just watching all the havoc they wrecked. It's a good thing they are so cute, because they're kind of a menace. I watched one particularly motivated monkey try for 30 minutes to find a way to break into our banda. He must have smelled my coconut biscuits :)
Steven talked me into a 4 hour sunrise hike, and I was actually really glad I did. The climb was incredibly steep at times, and we were surprised in the darkness by a herd of pack mules, but overall great.

We actually hiked above the level of the forest and could see the treetops poking out of the mist. It was pretty silent when we started our walk in the dark, but on the way back down the hill, the forest was roaring with birds singing and monkey troops declaring their territory. Not a sound you hear everyday :)




Back to work-I am scheduled to teach a first aid class to local teachers on Monday since many school are too far from a hospital to be practical. I am also putting together a decent first aid kit, as many schools don't even have band aids handy. I will be teaching a Mbaka Oromo school, which is also were a dispensary (clinic) is being built to serve the local community. The local chief got involved and said EVERYONE had to help get this thing built, which was very wise of him to see how this could benefit his village. And sure enough, when we arrived at 7 am before school started, there were tons of children and parents, like this one pictured, carrying dirt and gravel in buckets on their heads. The trucks can't get all the way to the construction site because the roads are horrendous, so they dump the supplies as close as they can get and it's up to the community to get it the rest of the way. Pretty impressive, huh?
Well, lunch and the threat of rain are calling me away from the computer.
Jessie

Baby bananas and bottoms

I have compiled some random pics of everyday life that I though y'all might enjoy at home. Perhaps some things that you don't see everyday.

Baby bananas. How cute are these? About the size of a chubby thumb, these are all over the place here. The locals say they are sweeter than your average banana. I don't know if I agree with that, but I prefer to eat them anyway because they're just so stinkin cute. What a great way to start a morning.


Bare baby bottoms. I don't know if this picture does this dimply little bottom justice, but take my word for it, it's pretty cute. And as for the mystery of why the mamas never get peed on......I am still mystified.

Interestingly enough, this little guy is baby Gary. Gary Hardison, named after the american doctor I am here working with. Cute. You've got to be a pretty big deal around here to get babies named after you, as evidenced by all the baby Obamas and baby Michelles that I have encountered recently :)
Here I am perched perilously on a rickety old wooden chair in the pediatric ward. I am still on my first wall of the mural, but it's coming along nicely. I have painted the bottom half of the wall green(like grass), and the top will be all kinds of flowers. The fact that I have to clean my little brush with turpentine between each color is not helping my time much, but apparently acrylic paint is another "American luxury". When I first arrive on the ward to start painting, it become absolutely silent, as the children watch with curiosity and trepidation what the mzungu will do next. After a bit of time passes however, they start to slowly stalk closer, using the beds and their mama's skirts for cover, and soon become brave enough to speak again. I try to appear very involved in my work until they have gotten to the audible speech stage, then I come down from my chair to clean my brush and shake some little hands that are suddenly thrush from under beds and behind skirts. They always seem surprised that I know their names. Apparently when I take my stethoscope off they can't recognize me as the nurse who was rounding with Dr. Hardison a few hours earlier :)
This picture is of Steven, Anna, and Diane is our nightly games of scrabble. Sometimes we even shake things up a little with speed scrabble :) Mom-you'd be proud to know that I have finally attempted to make popcorn the "real" way on the stove. I made if for our most recent movie night, when we watched Sister Act on one of their laptops. I think there may be some room for improvement, especially with my proportions, but if you don't mind standing oil in the bottom of the popcorn bowl, then I'm doing great.
Well, I can hear thunder starting to rumble outside the internet cafe, so I better skedaddle. It hasn't rained for almost a week now, and I'm really starting to miss it. I love the excitement in the air that lingers before a wonderful storm. I do prefer to experience that excitement from under my porch though, so goodbye for now!
jessie

Anatomy of a Hive

For those of you not familiar with the world of beekeeping, I thought a brief overview of a typical beehive may be in order. I also wanted to show off our new hives we've had built. Some of the old beehives were in such poor shape that we just needed to start over. I've had two new hives built so far and will continue building more as finances allow. Pictured here is what is known as a Langstroth hive. It consists of two main parts - a brood box and a super. The brood box is the larger box on the bottom where the queen lays her eggs (brood). The two slightly smaller boxes on top are the supers. This is where the honey lives.

If we remove the metal lid and take a look inside we'll see a bunch of wooden frames. These beehives have 11 frames in each super. After coating the underside of the top piece of the frame, the bees will begin to build individual combs on each of the 11 frames. Once the comb is built, they begin to make honey in each of the little hexagonal chambers of the comb (except in the brood box where they fill the chambers with eggs). In the picture below you can see a small piece of honeycomb inside the frame. You can also see the rough condition of the hives and why I decided to start fresh.

Steven

eyeglasses clinic

Yesterday we had a free eyeglasses clinic.  We used a  special kit made for third world countries that has generic frames with loose lenses that can be popped in the frames when the prescription has been determined.  A great idea......in therory.  It turned out to be a little more complicated than that.  We had over 50 people show up to get free perscription glasses, but as it turns out, a number of them only needed simple reading glasses (which we didn't have).  The kit only corrected for distance vision problems, since basic reading glasses are available here without a prescription.  After the first 10 patients that came in only needed reading glasses, we make an announcement that we weren't giving out reading glasses, and anyone who only had problems reading their bibles, newspapers. etc didn't need to wait in line.  Strangely enough, almost no one got up to leave.  In true kenyan mentality, they thought that getting the wrong glasses for free  was better than not getting anything at all.  And if they really didn't help at all, they could just sell them!  So we ended up with people "not being totally honest" as my sweet friend Mary put it, and bombing their vision screeen on purpose.  Now that became problematic when we made them do the vision test again after they got their new glasses, thinking there would be a marked improvement, only to be perplexed as to why they still couldn't see. 

After this whole ordeal I was feeling rather frustrated with the whole mentality here.  Why would you stand it line all day to get a pair of glasses that you don't even need?  Because they're free?  Then I saw something later that evening that made me understand a little bit more of the way people think here.  I had heard about a molasses truck that had tipped over on the main road outside the hospital that morning.  I had assumed the evening rains would eventually wash away the sticky mess.  As we drove by that evening, there were still people on the side of the road using tin plates to scoop up the spilled molasses into old jerry cans to take home.  They were actually going to use it.  Molasses that was mixed with the dirt and grime from the road.  It's a kind of poverty that I really can't imagine.  Maybe those people in line today were there to bring home glasses for their ailing father who couldn't see.  Or for their husband who was too sick to come.   They didn't understand unfortunately,  that you can't just switch prescription glasses like that.  But perhaps their intent was not as dishonest as I thought.  And how can I judge when I've never been that desperate.  I've never had to think that if I don't take it now, I'll probably never get it.  So after some reflection, I think I would name this day a success after all.  We were able to provide prescription glasses for a handful of people who really needed them, and wouldn't get them anywhere else.  

On a lighter note, I got to spend all afternoon on monday at the Mother Child Health clinic.  My job was primarily weighing babies, many of whom were chubby and naked.  Nothin' cuter than a dimply baby bottom :)  Many babies here don't wear diapers interestingly enough, but I never see mamas with wet or poopy shirts.  I am completely baffled, but will continue to investigate.

God bless,

Jessie

Phoebe House

So I thought you all might like to hear a little about a new project here in Kenya called the Phoebe House, which is a halfway house for abandoned HIV patients. The Phoebe house was started just a few months ago, and was named after it's first guest, who is currently still living there. Phoebe was a patient that came in very sick and found out at the hospital that HIV was the reason she was nearly dead (typical HIV positive presentation). Her 3 yr old son pictured here was also found to be positive. The pic below is of her while she was in the hospital. After being discharged, she went home to find a grave dug in the front yard, which turned out to be for her, as her husband had found out her HIV status. Her husband told her to take the HIV positive son and never come back. So in case you were wondering, yes-a bit of stigma still remains regarding HIV. She came back to the hospital as she had nowhere else to go. The above picture is of her 3 weeks after moving into the house. It seems that food, water, anti-retrovirals (HIV meds), and maybe a little love can do a lot for a person. When I visited her last week, I found her sleeping on a concrete floor, with a cardboard box as a mattress, and one wool blanket for the two of them. And completely happy. We are hoping to get beds, mattresses and cooking supplies soon. Right now their is a house mother who cooks for the ladies, as some of them are too weak to cook or do any housework.
When I asked Phoebe if there was anything she wanted that I could bring her, she asked for nail polish so she could, "look like that", and pointed at my freshly polished toes. I was expecting her to ask for so much more. So nail polish she shall get!
Keep these ladies and the Phoebe House in your prayers. They're doing great, but they've still got a long way to go.

Jessie

"I got her for free"

Well, where have we left off? Last week Steven and I worked with the local Rotary Club to visit schools to do jiggers dips. Jiggers are a little bug that like to set up camp in the dirt floors of the common mud hut. The prefer body crevices however, especially between the toes. The problem with jiggers is that they turn the feet into what I would compare to shredded leather. Not cool. I am sure there is a safer and less toxic way to get rid of them, but alas, it's not available in Kenya. So we soak their feet in Triatix, which i am told is a form of insecticide. Given the alternative though, it does seem to be the lesser of the two evils.

Steven had an interesting conversation with a local merchant that I overheard and thought you might enjoy at home. I was shopping in his little store, and Steven was waiting outside and started talking to the shop owner. He was asking Steven what he was doing in Maseno and things like that. He eventually asked Steven if he had a wife, to which Steven replied, "yeah, she's right there." The shop owner commented on how young I looked, and after a little contemplation added, "you must have paid a very high dowry for her." (A dowry is a payment made to the father to marry his daughter. It usually consists of cows and cash.) I was surprised by this comment and a little flattered until Steven replied with, "No, I got her for free." The conversation then turned to how long we'd been married and how many children we had. When he found out we'd been married for almost 4 years with no children, he looked at us both sympathetically. I'm sure he was thinking to himself, " no wonder he got her for free." I did not feel this was the time nor the place to try to explain birth control, so I just smiled and kept shopping. It was an interesting cultural experience, not to mention I got a really good deal on some beautiful scarves. Perhaps he gave me a good price because he felt sorry for me and my barren womb :)
Ahhh, just another day in kenya...........

Jessie

kenyan entrepreneurs

I must start by saying how good it was to get a call from my dear friend Haseena a few days ago. And for 14 minutes! What a luxury to have such a long call :) Thank goodness for skype and good friends! Suddenly kenya is not feeling quite so far away.

I saw an interesting thing the other day as we were dodging potholes, aka driving, down the road. There was a big clod of dirt in the road, with a stick in it, and a red rag tied to the top. Our driver immediately slowed down. I wasn't sure what was going on since it wasn't a normal police checkpoint. There were lots of young kids, mostly boys, on the side of the road, and Kenneth, our driver, stopped to give them money. What I found out was that the red flag indicated that kids are in the road ahead doing roadwork. The kenyan government paved the roads in the 70's, and have done little with them since, so kids have figured out that if they fill the holes in themselves with rocks and dirt, motorists will stop to give them money because they are so grateful. Smart little entrepreneurs aren't they. This is one kenyan enterprise that I will religiously support. If 8 year olds can figure it out, why can't the government ? :)
jessie

weekend in kakamega

Hello Friends!
Steven and I are happy to report we had a very productive and successful weekend, which was much needed after my spell of homesickness and demoralization :)
A little background: Steven is working on starting a small shop in Luwanda, a village near us, to sell Mother's Union crafts. The MU is a group of women volunteers that care for orphans (usually from AIDS) and they make and sell crafts to support themselves. The MU is overseen by the Anglican Church, so ultimately the Bishop is in charge. Now the Bishop is a pompous and condecsending man, but only slightly corrupt, which is a blessing I suppose. Anyway, when he heard about the store, he said we couldn't work on it until we fixed up the store in Kakamega first (which is his hometown). It's over an hour away, which is a long way on crater-filled roads. We found his "bookshop" with a small amount of dusty anglican church books spread across a large amount of shelf space, and then the beautiful mother's union crafts piled in the filthy corners. One third of the store was being used as junk storage, so we started with dragging a fridge, motorbike, stove, and ton of garbage out to the trash. It ended up turning out really nice though. We put the books in the back of the store, and the crafts in the front, so you had to walk through the crafts to get a book. We got the idea from milk placement in american grocery stores :)

While we were still setting up a woman walked in for a book and ended up buying a basket as well. The shopkeeper, Elizabeth, got a big smile on her face and gave me a thumbs up behind our shopper's back and whispered, "it's working!" When the bishop came in to inspect, he said he was "starting to like it" but it needed more books. Not my problem sir! He suggested maybe we write a grant for some more books for the shop to sell. Yeah right! Like any grant is going to give money to a well-off bishop to sell for a profit. Hah! But it was nice to get something done, and now we can start on the Luwanda store. It was nice to go on a little trip as well, and we had lots of fun with Mary and Jim. We'll keep you updated!

jess and steven

It's been almost 2 weeks now, and we're finally starting to feel settled and get a little bit of a routine.  We usually have breakfast with our housemates, Diane and Anna, every morning.   This is what our little home looks like.  On weekdays Anna and I do rounds with Dr. Hardison and Diane in the hospital, or attend HIV support groups or clinics.  On Wednesdays we go to a nearby support group through the hospital.  This group also makes crafts and teaches new members craft skills to raise an income.  Although most kenyans we have encountered so far will tell you there is no stigma associated with AIDS, we have seen differently.  There is a noticeable "need to please" with the white medical staff, even if it means a flat out lie.  For example, Phoebe was a woman treated at Maseno hospital and diagnosed with AIDS.  One of her sons was also found to be positive.  She came back to the hospital shortly after discharge because when she went home she found her grave already dug in the front yard and her husband refused to let her or the HIV positive son back in the house.  That sounds like a little stigma to me.

This little darling came to the wednesday support group and of course, she wanted me to hold her right away.  She must have sensed I was a baby-whisperer :)  

  This is me teaching some kids a song about how you grow strong if you pray everyday, but you shrink and get weak if you ignore God.  We are in the shrink stage of the song right here :)

The maternity ward here is sadly under-staffed, and I've been asked to help out there as well.  Right now there is often one nurse on a shift, who is supposed to cover the ante-partum room, the delivery room(which can have 2-3 women in labor at a time) and the post-partum ward.  Call me crazy, but that seems like a recipe for disaster.  I mean with only 2 hands, you can only catch so many babies at a time.

I will be teaching CPR to the nursing students, and let the principle know that I might be able to teach a few other seminars depending on how my schedule works out.  In true Kenyan fashion, he told Diane is passing that he would like me to teach the entire ENT (ears, nose and throat) course.  Hmmm.......not what I had in mind.  Not to mention it is miles away from pediatrics or oncology, the things I told him I specialized in.  Needless to say, we're going to have a little talk today :)

We have been getting lots of rain right now, even though it's not the rainy season.   I have decided there is nothing better than the sound of rain on a tin roof at night.  Yesterday I found that I did not have those feelings for hail  on a tin roof as I nearly went deaf.  The combination of sunshine and rain seems to be common here and I like it.  It can make things like support group meeting difficult however, as many of them just gatherings in the shade under a tree, as homes are not usually big enough or close enough for things like that.

That's all the news I have for you right now!

Jessie

Squirrels?

Here's a trio of monkey's scavenging for food in a garbage can in our hospital complex. They are about as common placed as squirrels in our area and as such, don't even warrant a second look from the locals. Jess and I are definitely giving them the attention they deserve. It's amazing how human-like they can bee. They can be seen playing with each other, giving their young piggy back rides, attempting to tight-rope walk on electrical wires, and leaping from tree to tree. We even heard of one brave monkey slipping through the bars on our windows, snatching a banana off the table, slipping back out onto the porch and peeling it right in front of our astonished roommate as she sat and watched on the couch.

BEE my Valentine

Beekeeping has been a slow process thus far but we are starting to make progress. I'm working with a local man named Edward who's in charge of hives. So far we've only been working on clearing the area around the hives and have not even gotten to open a hive yet! They have about 14 hives that were mostly buried in the woods. First we're working on clearing brush so we can get to the hives, then we'll start working on hive repair. Many of them are rotted, possibly past the point of repair. Several of the hives are infested with ants and other critters as well. The good news is that there are plenty of busy bees buzzing around the hives despite their sad state. Edward estimates about a month and a half until the honey harvest, so we will have to work quickly to get the hives in proper shape. With this many hives the harvest should be abundant, but in the past it has been disappointing at best.

address in Kenya

Hey ya'll! We thought some of you out there might like to get our snail mail address over here. One of our housemates just got some mail, and apparently it can come as quickly as one week :)
Our address is:
Steven and Jessie Thomsen
c/o Maseno Missions Hospital
P.O. Box 116
Maseno, 40105, Kenya
I'll post more of our adventures soon, but we're at a different internet cafe right now, and the computers are painfully slow :)
Jessie

phone number

I almost forgot! We finally got our international phone working and charged with minutes.  The number is 011-254-719670922.  That is including the country code and regional code.  Incoming calls are free for us, but it would probably cost a fortune from the US.   I'm told that you can send text messages and possible call from skype for free, but I haven't tested it out yet.  I believe the time difference is about 8 or 9 hours ahead of you all.  

~jessie~

 

orphan feeding program

We're finally able to post pictures now that we have figured out which computers in the cyber cafe are fast enough to send pics :)

These pics are of Steven and I at the orphan feeding program. They give school lessons while the food is being prepared, and since we are mzungus (ma-zoon-goos =white people) it is assumed we are educated and know how to teach. So we did :)

Steven has jumped into the beekeeping and it seems his work is cut out for him. He spent yesterday trying to hack a path to get to his beehives with a machete. Anna and I have been asked to teach CPR classes to nursing students, and possibly nurses as well. It seems that attempting to resuscitate people is not done very often here, but could be helpful in some situations. We don't have the measures to save people that have already gone into full cardiac arrest, but I think at least the labor/delivery nurses should know a little CPR :) It should be interesting at least.

I am getting slightly frustrated with "kenyan time" and the setbacks it creates. But we just keep reminding ourselves to "embrace the culture", and learn to work around it. We spent the afternoon with an AIDS support group that also teaches women craft skills to help them raise an income. They have just started a little shop, and were teaching new members the skills today.

jessie

back in Maseno

We made it in to Maseno last night, and have gotten our first good night's sleep in a while, thanks to some benadryl :) Much to my relief, there is another person staying with us, and she is our age. Her name is Anna, and she's a PA grad student at Yale. She'll be here 2 months. We are looking forward to starting with the orphan feeding program tomorrow, and there is a new children's program on sunday that we'll be helping with, which acts as a support group for children/siblings with AIDS.
Other than that we've just been exploring the village and adjusting to.......well, everything. We were reminded last night to keep our windows shut while we sleep because the monkeys (the equivalent to our squirrels) are thieving little devils. Other than that, so far so good!

Jessie

Made it to Nairobi!

We finally arrived last night in nairobi, and are currently trying to recover from jet lag in our hostel. All of our bags arrived safely, minus one buckle on my backpack-you were right mom, I should have put it in a bag. The weather is lovely, of course, and we're enjoying the change from the recent wisconsin weather :) I was startled in the bathroom (which is partially outdoors) this morning when a tortoise the size of toddler decided to join me. He seemed friendly enough so I let him stay. I supposed I was actually in his bathroom after all. Well, we best be off to procure a phone and some kenyan shillings before we take our next journey.
We'll keep you updated!
jessie

Kenya Videos

Attached below are two videos from our first trip to Kenya, compliments of Beth :) They give a nice glimpse of the orphan feeding program, the hospital, and the general look of the country. And my personal favorite, it gives just a little taste of the beautiful music they can make. Just click on the link below. Enjoy!

Jessie

Kenya Video by Bethany - MySpace Video

Maseno, Kenya Video by Bethany - MySpace Video