Today all of the boarders at the Light School and Orphanage finally got tested for HIV! The women from the clinic came to the school just for us. As kids in Kenya only get shots and medical treatment right after they are born if birthed in a hospital, the majority of the kids had never experienced anything like the HIV testing. Although it was only necessary to prick their finger to procure one drop of blood for the test strips, some of the kids had a really hard time. I few even had to be held still while they struggled and cried. Believe it or not, the younger kids were a million times better than the older ones. Nursery Class and Class 1s did not even flinch, while the Class 5s and up were extraordinarily difficult. I was so proud of my babies; they didn’t even blink! The tests produce results very quickly, so within the hour, we had them. Incredibly, every single child was negative! Alex was overjoyed, and none of us could believe it! It was such a relief to know that all of the children were happy and healthy! We also had exactly enough tests for every child. The woman from the clinic could not believe how amazingly everything worked out, and told us it was because we were so blessed due to the good work we were doing. It was very touching that they recognized all of the work that we had been doing, but we were just thrilled that the testing had gone through, and that all the kids are going to be okay.
The rainy season has also officially begun. The girls and I even took a matatu home from the orphanage because it was so wet and cold. It was so strange to wrap my head around the fact that I was actually cold in Africa! People here, especially women, think that we’re crazy for walking around sans umbrellas. We had to explain to the clinic women that if our hair gets wet, it doesn’t matter. Here, everyone pays an exorbitant of money to have it done, and it gets ruined if it gets wet, so all the women were walking around with plastic bags on their heads!
