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Published: July 27th 2010
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Halfway: equally distant from the extremes Right now I am in a matatu on the way back to Kisumu from Navasha town where my group and I have had an awesome four day “rest and relaxation” package. We stayed on lake Navasha and despite supposedly “resting and relaxing” managed to go on a 4 hour cycle through an amazing national park, a two hour hike through a spectacular gorge and a 4 hour hike through a national reserve, strolling past animals like giraffe, zebra, hippo, and baboon…very cool! So this weekend marks the half way point of our program…5 weeks down and 5 to go!
We farewelled Mutumbu in style with perhaps one of the busiest weeks I have ever experienced (and for anyone that knows me knows I like to be busy so that’s saying something). On our last weekend in the village we decided to run a medical clinic on the Saturday. With the help of our in-country coordinator Fred we went out to a rural and fairly isolated district and hired a team of local doctors and nurses to work for the day. We purchased a bunch of drugs from Kisumu and then put the word
out that we were having a clinic. People came in their droves and lined up for hours to get treatment for numerous things from malaria, aches and pains, respiratory illnesses fevers, worms and even the common cold. We started out at 8am and finished up around 6pm and throughout this time saw over 400 patients. It was nuts! Unfortunately we even had to turn people away as we ran out of time and drugs. Throughout the day we even had a lab set up testing bloods for things like malaria and HIV.
My crew, along with fellow WYI vollies Sam and Shan, spent the day trying to decipher doctor’s hand writing, filling scripts with particular drugs, directing people traffic, registering patients, helping out in the lab, and providing counselling to those that wanted it. At one point I was approached by a 17 year old boy who asked me for counselling re: HIV/AIDS. We went and found a spot under a tree to sit and chat and despite being nervous he soon opened up to me and the questions flowed. There was so many thing that he just wasn’t quite sure about and had never had anyone to ask
such as “can I get HIV from a mosquito bite” to, “I sweat a lot and its embarrassing...what can I do about it?”. I felt a little out of depth at some points, but luckily most of his questions were what we in the western world would assume as general knowledge and I think I was able to help. Either way it felt good knowing that he finally had the chance to talk to someone about the things on his mind. As volunteer’s, the whiteness of our skin generally gives us a free pass to talk about things that may not be acceptable in Kenyan culture, therefore also a free pass for locals to ask us about things they don’t usually get educated on.
This rule applies for the women’s group that we have been taking every Tuesday afternoon at the Community Centre (where we have been building our project). My five girls and I have been running a two hour class each week on different topics that the local women expressed they wanted to know more about. Sitting in the room this week for our final session it was hard not to giggle as I felt like I
was back in year 9 Sex Ed. There were condoms being put on bananas and the words “penis” and “vagina” being thrown around everywhere. But despite the urge to giggle hysterically at some points, the exchange of info that took place was so important. A room of 15-20 kenyan ladies who all have families and aged between 20 and 40, learnt so much from us 6 girls, all under 30 with no families of our own…and all because of our background. Sex education is not taught in schools in Kenya and therefore most people miss out on vital information on things like STI’s to general reproductive health. We were shocked at how little knowledge the ladies had on these topics and some of the myths that they believed were true. On a good note, these classes are going to be continued by the volunteers in Mutumbu on the individual placement with WYI so they will continue to help the community once we leave.
So our last free day in the village was going to be Sunday last weekend however a few weeks back Nick approached me and asked if he could organise and run a soccer tournament for the
local region, with the help of Walter our worksite coordinator at the Community Centre. I jumped at the idea to get more involved with the community so we pencilled it in for this weekend and soon the 2010 GEM Community Football Cup was born!! We decided to theme the day on HIV and AIDS awareness and Nick agreed to sponsor the entire event.
After various meetings with Walter, referees, local football teams, cooking mammas, and organising things such as catering, a program of events, a VIP guest list, music, prize money, trophies, and various logistics…the day came together smoothly and we pulled it off brilliantly. Despite starting 45 minutes behind schedule (which is pretty good for African time) the day was a huge success and we were overwhelmed by the turn out! At one point in afternoon is seemed like every man and his dog within a 20kms radius had come out to watch and cheer on their team. At lunch time, myself and the girls provided the ‘entertainment’ by joining a local legball (aka girls football) team, splitting up and taking each other on in a game. Despite neither side scoring, it was one of the funniest and
most enjoyable games of sport I have ever played and it did its job of entertaining the crowds. Us muzungu’s fell on our asses more times then you could count, and provided our local team mates with a good laugh at the same time. Throughout the day we had a HIV/AIDS information station set up and Katie took on the task of providing counselling to those who approached us. We were amazed by how many people came up asking questions, and we also handed out over 300 condoms in an attempt to promote safe sex. At the end of the event Nick, Walter and I stood with huge smiles on our faces knowing that everything had gone to plan, and once we got back to the Whitehouse our whole team had a few drinks and a delicious home-cooked dinner to celebrate.
On top of this…last week also saw us finish what we came to Mutumbu to do, and that was build a tailor shop at the Community Centre. We managed to finish the project right on time and took it a step further by all donating a sewing machine to the centre so that it can begin operation straight
away. We also hired two local ladies to oversee the running of the centre and finished off our last day in Mutumbu with a cracking party at the tailor shop with all of the community members who we have got to know during our time here.
So with our time in Mutumbu complete, we are now pumped and ready for the next 5 weeks in Odede! Who knows the possibilities waiting for us there…
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Chelsea
non-member comment
Kenya
Go Kyla.......your awesome girl!! xo