Finishing Up

Well, tomorrow will be my last day in Clinic. A lot has happened since my last post. I've been very busy and clinic's been going all day so I haven't had much time. I'll quickly run through what I've been up to.

Two weekends ago I went to El Doret a city in western Kenya. There we visited with a friend of a friend or Reena's family. There's a pretty tightly knit Indian population in Kenya and Reena has family from here. Anyways, after being picked up, we were driven by Reena's friend's driver. He was a maniac on the road. We were pretty much going 70+ mph on roads with one lane and crazy drivers coming at you and giant potholes. I experienced my first double pass as well. We passed a car that was in the process of passing another car.

We expected to stay in Reena's friend's apartment and just check out the city. Instead, we experienced some of the greatest hospitality of my life. This family was truly awesome. They gave us giant Indian meals. First they took us to El Doret's famous cheese factory. Since it was the weekend, there were no tours, but we got to sample about 20 delicious cheeses. Reena's friend refused to allow us to pay for any of it, even after trying hard to pay.

They then took us to a beautiful resort. It looked like an oasis. We thought we were there to be shown around. Instead he decided to book a room for us. We kept saying it was too much but he refused. It took all of our negotiating power to stay in the dorms and not in the deluxe sweet. At about this time I became resigned to having him pay for everything but the girls kept fighting. The resort was really cool. We sat by the fire drinking beers and had a good chicken dinner. The only problem was later that night the chicken's sauce made me throw up.

The next day we went to an amazing Chinese restaurant for lunch on the advice of Reena's friend. Somehow without going to the restaurant, he got it taken care for us. He was truly a gracious host. When he comes to the US, I'm going to try to hook him up.

Also in El Doret, we saw a farm with Giraffes on it. We also had an amazing view from the top of this mountain.

Last weekend was also amazing, possibly my favorite one in Kenya. We started the weekend going into the Kokamega Rainforest. There were monkeys EVERYWHERE. Monkeys have to be the coolest animals. They're very human in their behaviors and expressions.

The night we got there we ate at an ancient woman's tiny hut where she cooked meals for guests. The menu was slim, but the food was impressive. The next morning we woke up at 5am to climb this mountain that overlooks the entire rainforest. When we got to the top we watched the sunrise over the forest and the steam evaporate.

We also climbed into a cave that our guide forgot to mention was filled with thousands of bats that all flew out at us unexpectedly when we were about halfway through the cave. We also go to see some amazing plants, birds, and animals. We also got to eat about 20 different plants and fungi that were used for different purposes. Some were really good, especially the mushroom and this plant that tasted like mints and soothes the throat.

We saw lots of birds. Some were super colorful, others were giant, and some had interesting whistles (one sounded like a piano scale, another like a human whistling and another would only whistle in 5 rapid beats). There were giant ant colonies that were fascinating. You could see all the different types and when the guide touched it with a stick. Tons of giant, quarter inch long soldiers came out with giant pinchers. I've always found ants to be the coolest insect. I probably liked looking at the different trees and plants the best. Not only were there some tasty ones, but some do interesting thing like having bulbs that jump off the plant when you touched them.

Later that day we headed to Kisumu. Kisumu is the third largest city in Kenya and is on Lake Victoria, the second largest lake in the world. Kisumu was bustling. When we got there our hotel that we had reserved with and also confirmed with told us they were full. We asked if they knew of any hotels that weren't full. They said they doubted there were any.

We ended up walking into a few hotels before finding the New Victoria Hotel. For 10 dollars a night we stayed in luxury. Not only did they have hot showers (which I haven't had for about 3 weeks) but comfortable beds and balconies. They also had a deluxe breakfast in the morning.

We asked the receptionist about hippo watching and he directed us to this guide named Ibrahim. We met him at this beach that was filled with tiny shack like restaurants all selling the same thing. Fresh cooked fish. We ordered a giant one for about 10 dollars that fed all 5 of us that were on this trip. We agreed to meet the next morning to go out on this rickety boat to check out hippos.

Normally on this boat trip you're supposed to see one or two hippos and usually just the eyes. Being unlucky when it comes to anything on water, I really didn't expect to see any. Instead we saw about 40. Some had virtually there whole body out of the water. We also saw some baby hippos. They're like aggressive water cows. We also got to see some amazing scenery and other wildlife. We watched dozens of giant birds fishing. There was other great scenery and wildlife.

We also managed to get into a boat accident with one of the only other boats on the entire, mighty, Lake Victoria. It wasn't serious, more funny than anything else. The drivers I guess knew each other. The other really cool place was this fishing village called Dunga. This place was definitely off the beaten trail and I think our guide is the only one who takes his clients there.

Here were hundreds of poor Africans going out on paddle boats with lines catching fish one by one that will eventually get sold to people in Europe and Eastern Asia. In my heart I didn't really believe that people in the Western world still ate food that began like that. I always assumed it was all done by guys in giant boats with giant nets. In the village we also saw some cool wildlife.

There was another sweet plant that would shrink when you touched it as a protection against being eaten by goats. Speaking of goats we also saw one about 6 feet off the ground standing on this fence, it was a very strange site.

I also had one of the more profound moments in Kenya. It turned out that when I was scanning through the Kenya Lonely Planet the night before and saw that it turned out our guide, Ibrahim, was featured in it. He had heard that he was going to be in it but had never actually seen the book with his name in it or known for sure if he was in it. I showed it to him and he kinda got quite and couldn't take his eyes off the page for about 3 minutes. He had a smile but I think he was really amazed and touched by seeing his name and a description about him in a book like that. I ended up ripping out the page and giving it to him.

When we got back, we had another meal of fish on the beach. Then headed to this market that was filled with stands selling all sorts of different souvenir junk. I knew that I had to get lots of friends and family some souvenir junk and this was the place. Bargaining is kinda fun, but kinda exhausting. The way it works is that they start off at something absurdly high, like 50 dollars. Then you go way to something insanely cheap, like 25 cents. Then they laugh at you. Then you decide you don't want it. Then they keep going down until until it's something less then 3 dollars. I got tons of stuff at ridiculous cheap prices. You always get a good deal and it all depends on how much work you want to put in. I don't mind paying a few dollars extra because they definitely need it more than I do. 50 cents for me isn't much but for them it's a really big deal. They will bargain very seriously for literally another 10 cents.

Another highlight of my week was getting a haircut and a shave in a Men's beauty salon here. My hair was getting unwieldy and I hadn't shaved since I had arrived in Kenya. They shaved my head and shaved my face with a straight edge razor (the first time I've gotten a shave in my life). They worked really hard and you could tell that they would stay all day until they got it right. Then included in the $7 haircut and shave was a face and head massage and steam. They also put all sorts of moisturizers and creams on my head and face. To quote the manager of the store "you had some dry skin under your eyes... not anymore".

That brings me to the end of this lengthy post. Just a quick note on the clinic. It was not at ALL what I expected but it has been a fascinating experience. I have seen all sorts of disease and problems that I may never see again in my life. I feel I've also come to understand well one aspect of the African culture.

I saw some funny and entertaining things like a village where all the elderly claimed to be ages ranging from 95 to 110. I saw some profound things like a baby that probably would have died unless we had treated it. I saw some sad things too, like a 12 year old boy that had terrible cyanotic heart disease. He had the worst clubbing in his fingers I have ever seen and a blue tongue. In the US, he would have been operated on as a baby. We sent explicit directions with him to the hospital, but I know that he has been seen there before and hasn't gotten any type of the treatment necessary to prolong his life much longer. In retrospect, I wish I had done more.

The hospitals here are mostly terrible and most people don't have access to them anyways. They sometimes make grossly wrong statements about people. A woman had a lump on her side and they said she had fibroids. Another woman that is a friend of one of the workers on the farm we stayed at went for a giant lump on her stomach. They said she had a gastric infection and gave her amoxicillin. They didn't even do a abdominal exam.

The mobile clinic program isn't perfect. I'm not convinced we're always doing the right thing exactly. But overall, I truly believe we're doing a net good. I've always put a high premium on charities and programs like these that's goal isn't global or grand, just to do some serious good in some people's lives.

From here I'm off to Safari and to visit Nairobi before leaving to go back to the US. I'm excited to go home and see my friends and family but I'm not ready for school. Going to Africa has been one of the best experiences of my life. I'll hopefully get around to a few more posts about the last few days here and reflecting on my experiences. I'll also find a way to share my pictures.

See you in a few days.

Ben