LGrisafe

Writing from the IDP camp in Eldoret. We spent the day here yesterday checking up on our projects and starting some new ones. I mostly kept the children occupied while the adults spoke with John. I played simple games such as Ring around the Rosy, Simon Says, Patti-Cake, and even told an extremely ghetto version of Snow White, with one of the kids who could speak english as my translator. It was fun to explain those games to the children using my broken Kiswahili and hand motions, but the kids had a good time. Even just sitting around letting them touch my skin or play with my hair, keeps their minds off of what has happened. Whenever I'm inside the camp, I really feel like I am changing someone's life and it's the greatest feeling I ... read more

Writing today with brighter eyes than last. Visiting the IDP camp in Eldoret was another life changing experience. I titled this blog with a quote I read in the Daily Nation today. Justice delayed is justice denied and I couldn't agree more. Living in Kenya has opened my eyes up to news beyond celebrity lifestyles and sports. I hope that the ICC gives justice to the victims of the post election violence. They;ve suffered long enough and it needs to be finished with. After having interacted with the refugees, makes the news now seem real. Before I could never connect with such news stories, but having seen how they live, I can now put personal stories along with what I see or read in the news. We went to the camp with ideas and left with ... read more

This past week, I believe I experienced reality for the first time. It was the first time in my life, where I felt uncontrollably helpless. We had a mother and her child come into the clinic for some help. The mother had no money, tattered clothes and was pregnant. She was already a mother of five, and the child that she brought in was 15 months old and severely malnourished. The child could barely move, and was too weak to even blink a fly off of her face. She suffered from PEM, protein energy malnourishment. The mother came in begging for some help, any help. Sister Flora called Kasey and I into a room with the mother and child and asked to see what we could do. I was confused at first because Sister Flora said ... read more

Sorry it's been a while. A lot has happened. I'm on african time which is very relaxed and makes me wonder how anything gets done. But it does. Someow. On Friday, I met another volunteer Kasey from Kansas. We hit it off immmediately and have been inseparable ever since. We spent our last weekend at the homestay and went to Carnivore Restaurant, one of the top restaurants in the world. It was delicious and quite an experience, trying exotic game meats such as ostrich meat balls and crocidile. We also met up with a Canadian and Australian who entertained us for the night. We hit a casino, bar, club and adventure all in one night. The next day Kasey and I moved to our new home, a volunteer house ( I would call it an estate ... read more

Writing from a cybercafe about a block or so away from the clinic. Feels like I've been gone for much more than two weeks. Life in Kenya is very different than the United States, but I'm sure you assumed that. I don't even know where to begin, so much has happened here. I'll start with the family I'm staying with; the Akoths which include Irene and Abe and their children Sam, Leo and Jessica, their niece Natasha and their househelp Helen. The girls Jessi and Tasha follow me around everywhere, I feel like I have three shadows. No one here has ever seen someone with freckles, so I keep getting questions about them. One girl I work with thought it was an infection, and another girl thought they were allergies. It took a while to convince ... read more