Greetings all,
I cannot believe it has been a week since I last updated. As to my health, I am happy to update that other than a lingering cough, I am feeling nearly back to my old self. I have gotten the impression that people at home and around the world reading this believe that I am not having a good time in Kenya and I want to correct that misunderstanding. My experience in Kenya, as expected, have been challenging. I have found that my emotions are worn close to the surface and my moods swing like like a baboon in a tree. My mind struggles to process things I am seeing here, emotions I have about those I love at home, and finding homeostasis with my life here in Kenya. I have good days and bad days, but most are a mixture of both extremes.
Good news! My placement with the Unity WEEP Center in Kibera is picking up! What started out by simply making bracelets and passing the time away has matured into something a little more structured. I am getting to know the 8 HIV+ women there, and today began teaching them English! They know WAY more English than I know Swahili, and though I love teaching environmental education and science, I am a poor teacher when it comes to English. I never thought this silly dyslexic woman would find herself teaching English! The center also recently received a computer to use. I have created a form for them to record their home visits and will begin teaching the women how to use the computer once Microsoft Office is installed. Once again- me? Teaching about computers? Ha! It's a challenge, but I welcome it. There are so many stories that I hear from the women here that I want to tell you all! Today the director of the center, Gladys, told me about a woman named Lilian who has come through the center. Lilian went to the clinic one day and discovered she was HIV+. She came home and reported this to her husband. The next time she went out to buy vegetables she returned home to find him gone along with most of their belongings. (This is VERY common by the way. Most of the women at the center were married and living with husbands until they discovered they were HIV+. And of course the majority of the men have it, but think of it as the woman being 'dirty.') Lilian, having nothing, returned to her parents homestead in the country. They were both deceased but she stayed in their home for a while with her son. She became VERY weak and sick. She moved in with her brother in Nairobi. A woman from the center named Ronda saw this woman Lilian on the street and took her into a clinic. Still sick, but now with ARVs (antiretrovirals) she returned to her brothers apartment. She was required to take the medicine at 9pm each night and kept asking her brother for the time, to ensure she took it on time. By the seconds week, he was wondering what was going on. He said, "Why hasn't your malaria medicine been working? It has been over a week? What kind of sick are you?" When he discovered she had HIV, he told her, in front of her son, that the only thing he had for her was a coffin. When she came back from getting vegetables to cook, she found all of her things outside and the door locked. Her brother went on to steal her identity card, claim her as deceased and collect money from various places. Lilian returned back to the Unity WEEP Center where she and her starving son were fed. The women there felt for her and funds were raised for her to have a place to live and food to eat. I have met Lilian and now she is strong and working to learn how to run her own business.
Over the weekend it rained a number of times. Kenya is now entering is lighter of the two rainy seasons. Rain (which violently pounds from the sky in torrents) makes the roads around here, which are primarily dirt, VERY muddy.
Finally, and most importantly, I have decided to return home early. Due to some illness in the family, I have decided to return in mid November to help out the family in whatever ways possible. For the last number of weeks I have woken with a gnawing in my gut telling me I should go home and be with my family. The notion was immediately followed my a feeling of shame. Shame that I would want to leave Kenya early after working so hard to get here, that I would be disappointing those that supported me to come here, and to the people of Kenya I might not help. With time, and a number of curious acts, I have come to better understand that my family is most important and that I have already done more than I realize since being here. Making the decision to return home in three weeks surprisingly flooded me with relief.
Thanks for all of the love and I apologize for the choppy post.
Pictures from the beginning of my trip can be seen here:
and here:
And the most recent pictures can be viewed here:
Cheers,
Kris
