December 20, 2011

December 20, 2011

Well just a few more days until Christmas.  We bought some Christmas decorations yesterday at the “Eldoret Cultural Shop” – basically a souvenir  shop for us Mzungus.  I am liking that Christmas in non-commercial here.  Christmas is not a secular holiday here.  It is a little more commercial in Nairobi, as I see from the newspapers, but certainly not in Eldoret.  I did buy a few gifts for one of the organizations here and we are going to go out there this Friday December 23.  Look it up if you want.  Google 'Living Room International Kenya'.   This will be a low key Christmas except that we are hosting Christmas dinner for 16.  We are having Kenyans, new Kenyans (previously Canadian), Americans and ourselves.  Ages 7 to late fifties.  Should be fun.  I have even ordered a Turkey to cook(instead of the traditional goat).

I have started to buy my fruits and vegetables at the local market instead of the supermarket.  I went last Saturday and yesterday.  I also went to the fish market last week which had delicious fish from Lake Victoria.  So yesterday a t the market I met Ronald.  For those of you who read my emails in the summer you may remember my story about shopping in the market and talking to the teenage boys.  Well I saw the same group again yesterday.  As I approached the beans and spice shop, Ronald asked me if he could help me in the market (to make some money).  I told him I would let him know when I came out of the shop.  So after I bought my wheat berries and beans I came out and realized I would have two heavy bags to carry and I needed to walk a ways so I ‘hired’ him.  I offered him 100 shillings (for about one hour) but he told me he wanted to buy some new pants for Christmas, so I gave him 200 shillings ($2.40 Cdn).  So Ronald went with me to buy the fruits and vegetables, to the souvenir shop and up to the supermarket.  Ronald has his grade 8 (he is probably 16).  He doesn’t go to school anymore because high school is too expensive.  He lives with this group of boys.  He is a runner and has dreams of becoming a Kenyan athlete. He said he runs 20 km every evening.  He says he saves his money to buy running shoes (he was wearing dress shoes when I saw him).  Kenyan athletes  do very well here and the main track training facility is here in Eldoret because we are at over 7000 feet elevation. I asked him if he would like to continue on with school and he said yes.  So, I told Ronald to look for me next Saturday between 9:00 and 10:00 and he could carry for me again next week. 

All I know is that I am not going to change the world, but little by little, we can help one person at a time.

If don't talk or email you, blessings to you all this Christmas.  May God be with you all and may we all be grateful for the blessing and challenges He has bestowed upon us.  May you have a stress-free week.

Love Lori

Friday December 9, 2011

Because we have had internet issues, I have not been able to blog.  Something happened to the wifi on my computer and it is not fixed yet.  And we moved and do not have access to internet set up yet.  So I just have on and off internet at work. 

Well it has now been three weeks since we left sunny Winnipeg for Eldoret.  The last 7 days it has been sunny and 22-25 degrees.  I have had 2 weeks at work and we have been in our new house (see pics) for 5 days.

The house is big enough to fit many people (not only 3) however we rented it because there are not a lot of rentals around.  Unfortunately, it is not furnished, so we have to furnish it. We hope that when we move out, the new people will want to purchase the furnishing and appliances.  It is a very nice home and is in an area with 3 other houses behind a security gate.  I would say that we are living within the top 1% of the people in this country.  The exact opposite of the slum that I was able to visit in August.  So we have been mainly spending our time getting settled.

The top manager at AMPATH lives across the street from us and his wife is a pediatrician at AMPATH.  They have a 7 year old boy so Alex has someone to play with. They also have an adorable 1 year old baby girl.

We have met a number of people, both Kenyan and North American.  The Kenyans are very welcoming.  We have two birthday parties to go to this weekend.   One for Eden, who is turning three.  One of the American families has been going through adoption / immigration processes for about 2 years now to have Eden ‘lawfully’ join their American family.  She has been their daughter since she was 9 months old when they first met her.  Her dad and her are still here in Eldoret waiting for the adoption and immigration to be finalized while her mom and little brother have gone back to the US as mom is due with a new baby in January.  We hope that the paperwork can be finished by January when the new baby will be born so Eden and her dad Ben can be with the rest of the family.  US immigration appears to be the main barrier.

The second birthday party is for Isaac (Otte) who is turning 7.  He is the foster child of one of the AMPATH managers.   When Otte was 4 he was living on the streets as his mother could not take care of her many children (I believe 8 at that time). He came up to Paula (his foster mom) and told her that he was so very hungry.  Paula and her husband started to foster Otte at that time.  He lives with them, goes to school and has a good life.  He goes home still to visit his brothers and sisters.  Alex and Otte met at American Thanksgiving and have played a few times since.  He is a very decent kid and certainly has lots of street smarts.

On the healthcare side of things, the publicly paid physicians have been on strike since Monday.  The hospital AMPATH is affiliated is one of two publicly run teaching hospitals in the country.  That means that there have not been any doctors for 5 days.  There is no such thing as an essential services law here.  I was speaking with Dr. Joe Mamlin, US head of AMPATH yesterday and he said he just finished rounds on the medicine units in the morning.  There was only him and two medical students who had failed their exams and were taking extra rotations to learn more.  I understand that the Emergency department is crazy.  All units are being manned only by AMPATH medical consultants from the US.  The situation is not good from a patient perspective and will only get worse.  I do however feel for the physicians.  Their salaries are extremely low.  A senior medical officer receives approximately $500 per month salary with about the equivalent in perks for a total of about $1000 a month.  Not much for a senior physician, even in Kenya.  Compare that $12,000 a year to the Kenyan Members of Parliament who make $100,00 to $200,000 a year, not including perks.  Now compare that to a fulltime housekeeper / nanny that makes $50-$80 a month.  Hmmm. . .

The mortuary at the hospital has to stack bodies on top of one another because there is not enough room.  If family members do not claim the body (generally because they cannot afford to claim it), the body gets buried in a common grave.  If the family pays for a coffin, a coffin will be used.  If the family does not pay for a coffin, then the body will be wrapped in cloth and buried.  This makes me sad.

If a health professional at the hospital makes a mistake they are responsible for it.  It is not considered a system responsibility.  Current story I heard:  a pharmacist was on maternity leave.  Her replacement made a mistake which cost the patient approximate $40 (compare that to the income of the housekeeper).  The patient found out that a mistake was made and that she did not have to pay the $40 so she ‘sued’ hospital to get her $40 back.  The hospital made the pharmacist on maternity leave pay the $40 (even though she wasn’t at work and was on maternity leave).  The pharmacist’s income is not high and has a family of three to look after. 

You will see is the pictures one of a dog.  Her name is Chai and we have become quite attached to her.  She lives at the residence where we were staying.  The giraffes were seen by Alex and Jim at a farm close to Eldoret. 

So that is it for now.  Take care.  If you want to email you can contact Jim at backtobasicswinnipeg@gmail.com or Lori at lorisiddall@gmail.com

Lori