Last
Sunday we went to church at Pastor Robert's Deliverance Church. They have now
moved onto the new property, and had a tent brought to the place that has been
leveled for the new building. Pastor Robert asked Rilla and I a couple days
before if we would sing a song in church. Having very little access to the
internet and zero time to practice we sang the only song I could remember the
chords for on the piano, 'My Redeemer Lives'. Thank goodness Rilla can sing. I
am sure if we had sung like that anywhere back in Canada apart from alone in a
room people would have thought we were crazy and, well, terrible. But they
loved it. I realized that at this church, it is more about participating then
what you actually sound like. The singing and dancing was extra energetic this
week and was really fun to be a part of. Rilla and I tried to follow the dance
moves of the praise and worship team, but again, we are mzungu's and don't have
that African 'flavour' really required to bust a move.
We went
to our placements on monday and tuesday morning. Monday was really busy at the
hospital because it was the end of the month so they had a bunch of reports to
fill out. I really worked on my basic addition skills as we flipped through 27
pages of clients to add up how many were tested for HIV, how many were
positive, how many couples there were, how many were discordant, etc.
Tuesday
afternoon we left for Nakuru to help with a medical camp. We went to Kisii town
to catch a direct matatu to the city. I have said in my journal now a couple
times that we traveled the worst road I have ever been on, first to Thika, then
to Kisumu. I now know that they can always be worse!! Chomley, one of the
Fadhili staff said that it was a 'free massage' road. Imagine a road that used
to be paved, I think, but all the smooth has been totally torn off. There are
medium sized rocks strewn everywhere amid the potholes. The lady beside us who
was trying to sleep looked like she was on one of those 'exercise' things that
shake your entire body. I also learned a few more things about Matatu's. Let
me enlighten you:
If you
want air conditioning... open a window
Need to
defrost the windows?... use a cloth to wipe them
It's
raining outside...you will probably be rained on inside if you are close to a
window
There
are puddles outside due to the rain...you will be splashed on the leg through
the hole in the floor
Not
enough road signs outside...they will paint the rocks
The
vehicle in front of you is driving too slow...the traffic goes whichever way
you need it to so just slide into the other lane of oncoming traffic.
There
are only two lanes on the highway...make a third in the ditch or in the middle
Hungry?...wait
until the next town and your windows will be swarmed, and opened, by people
trying to sell you crackers, sodas, carrots, corn, peas, bananas, sugar cane,
avacado, guava, and the list goes on. Being white you are especially a target.
Matatu's
are fun.
The medical
camp on wednesday was really good. We went to a big church where the pastor who
focuses on the slums preaches. The camp was advertised in three of the
surrounding slums, including the garbage slum that I visited a couple of weeks
ago, as well as in church. Rilla and I started at the registration table taking
people's names and ages. Some of the names were really hard to spell,
especially when they say 'L' but they mean 'R'. That was confusing at times. We
had HIV/AIDs testing and counseling, doctor's examinations, a pharmacy,
de-worming and vitamin A for the kids, as well as vaccinations. There were
almost 300 people who came to be treated. We were about 20 volunteers and then
they had some local doctors and counsellors from the community working as well.
It was hard to imagine that those people came from the slum we had been in
earlier. They seemed really grateful for the help. They had originally expected
a much higher turnout of people for the day, but the chance to help even a few
was good and hopefully they will be healthier for it. These medical camps are
run every six weeks, and they just started having volunteers pay a little bit
to be able to fund the next camp. Some weeks the money is hard to come by so I
think that will be a good way to ensure that the people are getting some of the
help they need. It was unfortunate that we were unable to help out with food,
as a lot of the people were hungry as well. But I am really glad we got to be a
part of the camp!
Today
we were in Nairobi and went on the Kibera tour. The Kibera slum, as of this
past month is the biggest slum in all of Africa. There is somewhere between 1
and 1.5 million people living in the slum. We were also told that there is one
toilet for every 15 thousand people. Needless to say we avoided stepping in
every and all puddles. We visited four families and gave them flour and beans.
A feeding program was started four months ago by a volunteer with Fadhili. They
are feeding nine families, trying to help them out with food so that they can send
their children to school. They are also putting one girl through a sewing class
so she can get work and make some money. The goal of the project is to help out
with food for a little while so that the family can become self sustaining
again. It is a very new program but I see a lot of benefit in it. It was really
interesting to explore the streets, but it has made me so thankful that I live
in a place as beautiful, and especially as clean as Canada. We are so extremely
blessed!
