Drug Deal

Last Friday we were in charge of organizing a medical camp with Children’s Fund International. This camp was target orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS. Children are considered AIDS orphans if one or both of their parents have died of AIDS. Many of these children are HIV positive themselves as a result of mother to child transmission.

This was a follow-up camp to capture two sites they were not able to service during the last camp due to an overwhelming turnout of 321 children. Turnout was much smaller this time but it was still a great opportunity for me to see how these operations are carried out.

Francis and I spent the morning driving around the countryside mobilizing our mobilizers to mobilize the orphans J It was a beautiful day for driving but we were met with unprepared mobilizers who hadn’t completely done their job of notifying OVCs and following up to ensure they would show up because the tea is ready to be harvested now and they’ve been busy in the fields picking tea by hand.

Because many of these people don’t have phones and have to walk great distances it is much more labor intensive to spread the word than sending out a mass e-mail like I wish we could do. We ended up trying to contact some OVCs ourselves but were met with the longest, steepest hill I have ever seen and taxed our motorbike beyond capacity with 3 passengers. Yes, three passengers. The Kenyan concept of personal space is much smaller than the requisite 6 inches North Americans require. I always end up in the middle since Francis is driving and we pick people up as we go. No one uses the gas going downhill here (I’m not sure if they’re conserving gas or the hills are too steep) so when we go downhill we smash right together and I quickly become intimate with the stranger we have just picked up.

After dusting ourselves off and fixing the motorbike we gave up on finding children and headed to the site where we met up with the team from CFI. They bring a doctor and several staff to distribute medicine. Prior to their arrival children are seen by the school nurse and have their list of prescriptions ready. As you can see drugs are handed out off the top of a truck and then someone explains to the children how and when to take them. Most come with some sort of caregiver so that is helpful but some do not.

As you can see from the photos these kids are adorable. I know they look a little pathetic in the pictures but that is because they were quite serious about having their photos taken. If only I had a second camera to capture them squealing with laughter as they all crowded around my digital camera to see themselves on screen!

The Office

The office is a very small space but we are hoping to expand very shortly. It is located about 2 blocks from my apartment so a very easy commute! A lot happens in this little room...The organizational planning, financing, meetings, drop-ins, and some counseling all happen in here. At all times there are 2-4 people working in the office but it often houses up to 8 people both providing and receiving services.


You may notice several computers in the photo but only one actually works...but it has no Internet so it is difficult to research funding. There is also a printer but there is no toner and they can't afford to replace it so we have to take anything we want to print or copy somewhere to pay and have it done so most records are handwritten. This will be a bit of a hurdle as far as efficiency goes but I have some ideas percolating.

As you can probably see from the photos this is an organizer's dream. I feel like there is a lot I can do for this organization in terms of organizational development and have been working quite hard to get some systems in place that will increase productivity (and accountability)...and in turn, funding. I'll keep you all posted as I start working on specific projects but for the next few weeks I'll be sorting through the piles of handwritten financial documents and receipts and training someone on how to track our finances more effectively.

Thanksgiving

On this day of appreciation I'd like to remind everyone of some basic modern conveniences most of us take for granted. Please respond to my poll in the right hand column of the screen. Before I came to Kenya I thought I knew my answer to this question but after living without all three for a few weeks I've come to realize my priorities are slightly different than I had thought...Originally I thought the toilet would be top on my list but I think the refrigerator has proven itself to be the most valuable appliance for me. I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks!

15% of the world lives without running water

25% of the world lives with no fridge



42% of the world lives without flushing toilets

Correction! Erin's Address in Kenya

I have had several requests for my address so here it is:

Gatanga Kiiga Home Based Care
Attn: Erin Bresnan
PO Box 34
Gatura via Thika, Central Province, 1013
KENYA

I hope this means I'll be getting some mail! I have no idea how long it takes but I've been told if you are sending anything other than a letter it should be marked "educational materials" if possible on the customs form to ensure it actually reaches me.

Also, my phone number is 0728913067.

Fame!

I have finally arrived in Gatura! After a slight delay due to lack of housing I moved into my new home on Monday. I have been given the Kikuyu name of Wanjiko so I hear this everywhere I go. EVERYONE wants to say hi. I feel like a bit of a movie star and I don't think there is any chance of me ever doing anything unnoticed around here.

Because I'm the first white person to ever live in the village, and probably one of the only to visit as well, my presence has caused quite a stir. The day I first arrived 2 co-workers took me to lunch at the local restaurant. Before we walked in they said that we would give this man a lot of business. At first I didn't understand what they meant. When we walked in the place was completely empty. Within 5 minutes it was a full house of people just casually wandering in for a cup of tea or a little snack, and maybe to sneak a quick peek at the white lady.

The little kids really get a kick out of me and they all react one of two ways when they see me. They either stare like their eyes will pop out of their heads or they get all excited and yell to their friends, "Come see the mzungu!" Several of the pre-schoolers hung around outside my window singing a welcome song the other day. They are so cute but I'm hoping the novelty wears off at some point.

Shop Till You Drop

On Monday the driver from our sponsoring NGO gave me a ride from Nairobi to Thika where we met up with my employer. Thika is the last real town before Gatura so we had to go shopping for household items there. A more inappropriate group of people for this type of excursion there couldn't be. I had no idea what I would need, Francis didn't seem well versed on the particulars of household affairs and was convinced everything was way too expensive, and the driver was convinced I could get everything cheaper in Nairobi and was determined to find a good deal for me in some seedy back alley shop. Needless to say I am still without several key items but the driver did manage to score me a good deal on some curtains from a very shady second hand alley shack and I got most of the essentials like a mattress (really just a big foamy wrapped in material) and some dishes.

Home Sweet Home

Gatura looks to me like the beginning of an old west town with one main street full of rather ramshackle looking shops surrounded by a few homes and a lot of countryside. It is the last town on the tarmac before the road turns to dirt. This is the low rainy season so it is very green and the hills make for a beautiful landscape. The main crops in the area are tea and coffee but many people also have vegetable gardens. My house is on the outskirts of the main drag only a block from the office. My new home is very nice and even has an indoor bathroom...but I don't have any water yet so that has been a bit of a challenge. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is but there has been talk of it being fixed by the weekend. I am still getting settled in but will post photos once I get everything set up.

I have been very busy all week with a community building workshop, a regional AIDS conference, and a few meetings so I haven't actually spent much time in my new job itself yet but I have been getting to know the people I will work with and they are all extremely nice and have been so welcoming. They are all volunteers and one is my next door neighbor. They take turns helping me with whatever I need and they even walk me to the bus stop. I'm assuming this royal treatment will stop after a week or so but it has been a wonderful way to get settled in.

Status Check

My bee sting has started shrinking back to a 3 inch diameter after spreading to my elbow. Past the elbow was my cutoff point for seeking medical advice so I'm glad it decided to retreat. On the downside Francis (my boss) has typhoid fever but it doesn't seem to be slowing him down at all. He just takes his 8 tablets a day, sweats it out, and keeps on truckin!

Orientation in Nairobi

My New Boss

The big excitement since I last posted has been meeting our employers. They arrived on Wednesday and we have spent the past 3 days together. My employer is Francis. He is an incredible community organizer who can mobilize his entire community with a few calls from his cell phone. He started the organization in 2003 after seeing a need in his community to provide support to people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans of HIV/AIDS. He has gradually added volunteers to the organization and it now has 18 members. He is also a sustenance farmer and has a wife and baby so he is a very busy man! He is always ready to laugh and tells me that we will die soon enough so there is no need to spend time with worry :) I like his attitude and look forward to working with him.

Francis also informed me that because many of the people I will be working with are rural and illiterate, not only will I need to know Swahili but I will need to learn Kikuyu as well! I felt a bit overwhelmed by this at first but then I found another volunteer will need to know these 2 plus sign language...

Nairobi

One afternoon we took the bus into town. Nairobi downtown has several parts to it and I don't quite have my bearings yet so I'll have to write in more detail when I visit for the weekend sometime. I can say that the traffic is absolutely insane. I wasn't able to discern any type of lanes, crosswalks, or traffic rules of any type. I saw a few stoplights but almost all of them were out of order and no one seemed to pay attention to the ones that were working. I'm sure there must be some sort of system but I'll definitely need a lot more time to figure it out.

Last night we received our standard issue water filters and mosquito nets from VSO along with a demonstration on how to use them. Some of us are based in Nairobi and some in extremely rural areas but everyone will need to boil AND filter their water. I guess all of us volunteers will be picking up a new hobby :)

My Next Adventure

Tomorrow I leave for my new home in Gatura. I am very excited to see where I'll be living for the next 6 months and will write again soon after I arrive to let you know what it's like. But for this post I will wrap up my time in Nairobi which I have very much enjoyed. Our training was useful but I think the most valuable aspect of this week has been meeting and getting to know the other volunteers as many of us will be working together to share skills and resources on our different projects.

Status Check

I am doing well and feeling great other than a nasty bee sting that is starting to take over my right bicep. Fortunately all the other volunteers remembered to bring Benadryl so I've just drugged myself up and should be ready to experience Gatura tomorrow morning.

Swahili Lessons

Hamjambo! Jina langu ni Erin na ninasikia vizuri. Mimi ni mjitoleaji wa VSO na ninatoka nchi ya Canada.

Translation: Hello! My name is Erin and I am well. I am a VSO volunteer and I'm from Canada.

Not exactly eloquent but it will do for now. I just hope no one wants to move into any conversations deeper than what kind of meat they like, how many children they have, or what neighborhood they live in.

I have just finished 2 days of VERY intense language training. My teacher is nice and very quick to laugh which I love. She calls this a crash crash course in Kiswahili. I think Anne(ESL teacher) would have a lot to say about the methodology as there was no apparent order to the lessons and we covered irregular verbs before we even learned how to pronounce the vowels. But we did learn a decent amount for only 2 days.

*****

There are 16 volunteers in our group and we are from the Philippines-5, the Netherlands-1, Ireland-1, England-3, Uganda-3, Ghana-1, USA-1, and Canada-1. Everyone else is staying 1-2 years and we’ll be placed all over Kenya. We should all be able to stay in touch quite well and are hoping to get together for Christmas. A rumor has been circulating that we get a decent amount of vacation at Christmas but we’ll see if that is actually true.

We have been very busy with classes so we haven’t had time to go more than a few blocks from the hotel. We have classes in Nairobi all week but only 1 more day of language class so we may have a little more free time to explore after that. I’ll write again when we get a chance to see the city.

I’ve found a Kenyan dance off show on tv and I’m loving it (with the excuse that I’m practising my Swahili of course).

Kwaheri!

(Goodbye)

Culture Note:

One thing I had been told about Africa is that you really notice that people don’t think of paper as disposable like North Americans do. My teacher seems to be absolutely terrified of wasting paper and only uses one flipchart paper per day. The result is an absolute mess of words and phrases written just large enough to read jammed into one small space. Towards the end of the days she is squeezing words wherever she can find random space so if you look down at your notes for a few seconds and don’t see where she is writing you’ll never find how to spell that word. Definitely more challenging to learn this way. I'll certainly appreciate paper more from now on!