Assortment of Things

So I realize that it has been a while since my last post. Various things have happened since my last update.

I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.

Random photos of Manyatta

Village

Salina and I went to one of the villages around Kisumu. This was our first time in a rural area and it was pretty much what I expected: slow. The purpose of the visit was to attend a fundraiser at the church of Ben, one of the two MCI staff. I wasn’t too keen on going to a fundraiser, let alone a church, but I wanted to see what was up. We went to Ben’s house and had a pre-fundraiser meal. Ben’s mother (one of three (simultaneous) wives of Ben’s father) kept brining out platter after platter full of good old Kenyan food: fried chicken, corn (a bit tougher than the corn in the states), ugali, tomatoes, rolls, and of course weak milky tea and tons of sugar. After our first meal, we went to the fundraiser. Very weird. People just kept bringing money up to the collection plate at the front. If someone donated a large sum, the amount would be announced, which would instigate loud singing and others coming out give to top their generous peers. After 3 hours of this, and another meal, we left the church and went to Beldina’s childhood home.

Photos of the village/church fundraiser

Fish

Let me just say that tilapia from Lake Victoria may have questionable toxic levels, but it tastes good.

Hospital

We have been touring different health facilities in the area in order to set up a meeting between the facilities and the CHWs in the slum. We finally got into the Provincial General Hospital, which is the largest and most equipped in the area. It serves 8 million people and is the last stop before someone has to be referred to Nairobi. We couldn’t take pictures in the wards for obvious reasons, but let me just say that you are glad you didn’t see what I saw. To put it bluntly, I was walking around watching people die. I’ll leave it at that.

Photos of fish and hospital (weird pairing, I know)

Uganda

On a lighter note, Salina, Ayaka, George (a new friend who goes to Columbia, but works in the rural areas around Kisumu) and I took a short vacation into neighboring Uganda. This trip was particularly important for me because I just submitted my application to study abroad in the capital city of Kampala for the Spring 2010 semester. Luckily, I loved what I saw. We took bus, which took 7 hours and almost left us at the border. We were the only foreigners on the bus, so we obviously took longer at the immigration office. We had to chase down the bus, making asses of ourselves in the process.

We spent 2 nights in Kampala followed by 2 nights on the Nile near its source at the town of Jinja. Kampala is a great city. East African cities get a bad rep for violence, congestion, pollution and general chaos – Kampala is the exception. Although the Lord’s Resistance Army is still wreaking havoc in the north of the country, this southern capital is very pleasant. We just walked around town, just like I do in NYC, and it was great. The Nile was also wonderful. I basically lounged on its shores for two days. The other three went white water rafting for one of those days, but it was too expensive for me, so I stayed back and did absolutely nothing, which was perfect. So, cross your fingers for me getting into the study abroad program because I loved Uganda and cannot wait to return.

Photos of Uganda Summer 2009