I know it has been a really long time since my last post but I have no finished up half of my third year of medical school wow time flies. I was lucky enough to participate in a trip to Kisumu Kenya during my family medicine rotation this past month below is an email i sent home while i was there. Here is a link to my photos, and a link to a website of our group's updates.
Hey guys,
I am writing this email as we journey on our hour and fifteen min bus ride from kisumu to masara. We take a two lane highway that is pretty scary; bicyclists ride on the edge of the road without a bike lane and tour buses pass us nearly having a head on collision each time while running cyclist off the road. Children play in the trash and bathe in the streams naked as we pass. Most ecstatically jump up and wave with both hands as they see us shouting mzungu (white person). Their smiles are absolutely gorgeous as you can see they joy within them. Once we get to ahero we take a left off the pavement on to a dirt road. We stop and pick up some of the translators who crawl on top of the bus and hold on for dear life as we travel the bumpy road for about five miles. The road is very much domed so we spend a good deal of the trek driving at what feels like 30 degrees. The scenery is gorgeous women walking from market with baskets on their heads. Other women out in the rice fields working with their children in the far distance you can see the mountain ranges. The best part is when gazing upon the horizon there are no power lines to interrupt the beauty. I usually take this time each morning to listen to my iPod and treat it as a one of worship and can't help but look out and think how great god is and bow He created this for our pleasure so that we may subdue it.
We finally pull up to the clinic each day with several hundred people waiting for our arrival. There are probably 20 children running from their perspective huts to follow the bus. We usually have morning clinic for about 3 hours until we take a lunch break. The women of the village cook. Chapiti for us which is a piece of flat bread that is fried Almost like a pita. To drink we get a cup of hot tea with sugar in the raw. Yes it is 90 degrees outside and we drink hot tea. We will then finish clinic leave some pharmacy students behind to finish up filling some scripts as we make the journey home.
We are averaging about 300 pts a day at clinic, yesterday was our biggest day at 400. The cases consist of malaria with fevers of 105, diarrhea from parasites, asthma, allergies, arthritis, trauma, abscess etc. We have a wound clinic that we rotate through. My first day in wound clinic I injected countless knees for arthritis drained many abscess and even pulled some teeth.
I have yet to have any patients that aren't happy and content. Everyone seems so happy about everything. The children run around and play with anything they can find. One of my favorite toys is a metal ring they spin and run alongside with a stick that pushes it. Might not be the best description but that is essentially what they do. We pass out stickers to them every day and they absolutely love them. I get asked daily for my water bottle and my pens something they get to experience and play with once a year.
Sunday Bonyo's dad had a party for us at the village. We had live entertainment that consisted of a keyboard 5 cow skin drums a shaker and a man singing. Each song lasted about 20 mins it seemed. I made a complete fool of myself but the children loved it. We had the kids in a Congo line at one point. After watching the villagers dance they sat down and said it was the white peoples turn to dance so we stood up and tried to dance some more. I have never been laughed at that much but I believe they enjoyed it. We finished the party with a meal provided by the women. I went into their huts and watched them prepare the meal and will show you pics later. The huts made of mud with a tin roof had two rooms one for sleeping and the other for cooking. The cooking room had a wood fire in the corner with a pot of water on it. The women sat around a table and prepared the meal. Chickens roamed throughout the hut along with cats and dogs. So who knows what the meat was. It is custom that guest eat first and then they eat the leftovers. Makes you think twice before getting seconds or a lot off food and never will you not finish a meal.
I have many more stories that I hope to get into an email but I am now tired of typing on my phone. I hope you all are doing well and can't wait to get back and share stories and pics.
-Parker
