Settling Down and Reaching Out

Even though it's been several days, I still remember the wonderful start to my previous week. The three PA students from UK and I went to dinner at Dr. Spear's house, and although I'm not the biggest fan of Mexican food, the enchiladas she made seriously tasted like heaven! I realized that despite our wonderful cooks at the guest house, I miss American food! It was also really awesome to hear Dr. Spear's background and testimony, and to have freshly-baked brownies on her beautiful thatched-roof back porch, surrounded by chains of tiny white lights, beautiful flowers, and the bright Kenyan sky. And after dinner, the guest house hosts, Dolly and Vince, had organized a special movie night in honor of our newly-arrived Velveeta cheese dip from the States, so my night was full of long-lost American food treasures. Plus, after the movie, I got to talk to my family for the first time in over two weeks on the phone! It was so encouraging just to hear their voices and to get updated on family life back in Kentucky.

This is from the very beginning of my trip in Nairobi with Dr. Spears at the Giraffe Park.

This past week has been full of some major changes in the people I'm around; almost all of the visitors who were here when I arrived have left, and now there's a totally different group of people here. I'm getting the feel for what the missionaries go through with all the new visitors; it's weird being on my own and having to start relationships over, but God has always provided a community for me. The day my three PA school friends left is the same day I found out my mom is coming to visit me at Tenwek for a week!! I am beyond excited to see someone from my family; I think going through all of these community changes and not having the constant presence of my family, which I'm used to, is very different and has definitely taught me to rely on my Lord even more.

Several homes and gardens beside Tenwek Hospital.

The Tenwek Guest House, where I've been living! With lots of college pride hanging from the windows and balconies. 

The dam and hydroelectric plant by Tenwek; it's only a 10 minute walk from the guest house.

This weekend, we spent nearly all of Saturday at an orphanage with a very unique and intentional plan for our time with the kids there. One of the women visiting Tenwek discovered that when Kenyan girls hit puberty, many would have to miss school for their "monthly episodes" and get so behind that they would have to drop out; so she came up with a brilliant plan to sew reusable fabric pads for girls, and to teach a few Kenyan women how to make them so that they could start up their own business. So the orphanage was our first trial run of the project; we held a Bible study with both the boys and girls there and talked about the story of David and Bathsheba, and the importance of resisting sin, especially when it comes to purity. Then we split up the genders, and I helped show the girls how to put together, use, and wash their "sani-pads"; we gave each girl a package of five pads to use. Then I was able to encourage them as a single, Christian 21 year old to put God first and education second, and to keep purity as a priority in life. After that, we got to play with the kids, and had a traditional Kenyan lunch (with chai, of course!) with the couple that runs the orphanage. The kids' favorite thing to do? Play with my long, blonde hair; I had about fifteen girls gathered around me as they braided, twisted, pulled at my locks. We also asked for the orphans to give us any clothes they needed to be mended and ended up with two huge suitcases full of clothes! So I've been putting my mediocre sewing skills to use this week as well.

Yesterday, I road two hours in the covered-cab of a truck over rough dirt roads with Tenwek Community Health to help with an immunization/physicals clinic in the Mau forest; sadly, the forest is now only a few scattered trees, and we set up camp in a stick-and-mud, two-room building that also serves as a school and church. Because of the forest's destruction, the Kenyan government isn't allowing anyone to live in the area, so the building is a temporary structure and the women had to walk up to 10 km (6.2 mi) with their babies or pregnant bellies to get to our clinic! Absolutely incredible. I got to help give out oral polio vaccines, vitamin A pills, put together syringes, and hold babies while they received their immunizations. As our number of patients lagged, I went out to spend some time with the Kenyan women who were chatting while drinking chai and porridge in the grass (which they, of course, continually offered me because hospitality is such a vital part of the Kenyan culture). Their English and my Kipsigis (the area's tribal language) and Swahili were all very limited, but we managed to somewhat communicate through sign language, and they were really excited about my camera and the fact that they could see themselves on the screen afterwards. Unfortunately, we got a flat tire on the way back, so my day ended up being incredibly long, but thoroughly enjoyable.

Our community clinic on top of a mountain in the Mau forest.

Giving an oral polio vaccine to a baby at the clinic.

On top of all this, I've been beyond blessed to be able to watch my fabulous UK basketball team in the NCAA tournament! I'm surrounded by UNC, Kansas, Louisville, and Duke fans, but we all gather together in the guest house activity room with our bowls of popcorn to watch the games on the projector screen; sometimes we have to stay up really late or watch a recording, but I've been staying in touch with the US that way! Besides basketball, we've become pretty obsessed with the card game, Dutch Blitz; we'll often organize a game late at night when there isn't a game on. So I'm definitely having some competitive fun out here too!