First Week

            I’ve been in Kenya for a little over a week now and in Kapsowar for 5 days.  There have been so many transitions and new things I’ve seen or done, it’s hard to know where to start! 

I was in Nairobi for the first 3 days staying at a guesthouse before traveling to Kapsowar with one of the doctor’s families.  I think that was the most difficult part of the trip, anticipating all that was to come and feeling a bit like “what was I doing, coming here by myself?”  One thing that’s been clear is that God has been guiding my trip each step of the way.  Although I haven’t known what to expect from one day to the next, God has provided people to encourage me and to help me not feel alone here.  I met so many interesting people at the guesthouse from all over the world who were stopping there in preparation to head out for missions in various parts of Africa or who were heading home after many years on the field.  I also met another medical student from Australia who was about to do an elective at a different mission hospital in Kenya for the same time as me.  We had the same fears and anxieties about what we were doing so it was fun to hang out with her for a day.  We went to the Maasai market, and we were forewarned that we should be a bit skilled at haggling if we didn’t want to overpay for our items.  Needless to say for anyone who knows me well…I probably paid about 5 times what my souvenirs were worth at the first stop.  When the shopkeeper was leading me to an ATM to get enough money to pay, I knew I had gone wrong somewhere.  I’ll never do that again, but it was still a fun experience. 

            I left Nairobi early Monday morning to fly to the city of Eldoret, which is about a 2-3 hour drive from Kapsowar.  It was a relief for me to get to my final destination and meet everyone that I’ll be working and living with for the next few months.  Kapsowar is breathtakingly beautiful.  I will post a few pictures later because I know that I can’t describe it well enough in words.  I’m living in an apartment that’s right next to the hospital with a third year family medicine resident who’s here until the end of January.  Another 4^th year med student is coming to take her place after that.  The apartment is much nicer than I had expected and doesn’t feel too different from my apartment at home.  One thing is that we have a gas stove that needs to be lit with a match each time.  As my family can attest to, I am not very skilled with matches and have never successfully lit a candle before this trip (pathetic, I know).  The motivation to be able to cook my food won out over my fear of fire though and I have successfully lit the stove several times now!

            It’s been an interesting first week at the hospital, too.  There are two family doctors and two surgeons from the U.S. who are here with their families long term.  The remainder of the staff at the hospital is Kenyan, and I’ve worked with a couple of the Kenyan doctors as well.  The first few days here I’ve mainly been getting acclimated to the hospital and the people, rotating among all the different departments.  My first day we did a community outreach at two of the local schools, talking about nutrition, hygiene, alcohol abuse, and sex education among other things.  I spoke for a few minutes and all the children were giggling…apparently they understood none of my English since I was speaking too fast.  I’ll have to work on that for next time.  I delivered a baby on Wednesday night and have had more opportunities for hands on experience in OB, which I’m really excited about.  The nurses here are very patient teachers and have been so friendly and welcoming.  On the pediatrics ward there have been some difficult and sad cases including a child with HIV and pulmonary tuberculosis.  Medicine is definitely much different here – with limited resources making a definitive diagnosis can be a challenge.  That being said, the people here are very resilient and are so full of joy.  The resident I’ve been working with was saying how in American medicine we can trick ourselves into thinking we are in control.  Here, God is teaching me that we are not in control of anything.   I was reading a book the other night about medical missions and the author said this about serving about serving in a short-term capacity:

            “Love and respect the patients you treat.  Take this opportunity to see the Great Physician at work without the trappings of modern medicine to interfere.  Learn His art; copy His love.  In all things extend grace”. *

That’s my prayer for the rest of my time here that I would be able to live that out and encourage the patients I see as well as the long-term missionaries and staff who are here. 

 

* Medical Missions:  Get Ready! Get Set! Go!  By Bruce Steffes, MD

 Mayfield Guesthouse

 The hostel where I'm staying in Kapsowar

 My room

 View from my yard

 Backyard at Mayfield guesthouse