Literally. Two days last week, all of us made the trek after work from our clinic in Opapo to our home in Rongo. 8 loooong kilometres. It’s literally a straight road, progressively uphill to our house. I don’t know what possessed us to do it, but we decided that we needed the exercise.
And another thing - to all of you, who took me out before I left, who told me that I would lose so much weight, who took me for endless breakfasts, lunches and dinners, who told me that all the naans and kabobs at Gerrard street would be good for me, who supported my habit of 8 iced caps a day and who encouraged me that three snacks between every meal would fatten me up so I would be okay when I lose all that weight in Africa, to all of you - thanks for nothing. Not only have I not lost any weight, but the carbs with a side of carbs diet here is actually a recipe that Jenny Craig would not be proud of.
Now that we’re in such a routine over here, it’s hard to imagine how life is back home. I mean, I get updates about the weather, how great the Drake concert was and that Amy Winehouse died, but, we live a life that is so far removed from what we were used to that it’s even hard to describe in words. For example, one day on our drive home all of us had a long conversation with our driver Gabby. Gabby is the most kind-hearted person you will ever meet and he makes our morning when he greets us every morning with his big smile (despite the fact that his two front teeth are missing). One day we were really hungry and asked him if they had any drive through restaurants. He had no idea what we were talking to him and so we tried to describe it to him using the example of a McDonalds. We spoke about McDonalds so non-chalantly until he stopped us mid-sentence and asked us to describe this “McDonalds” that we kept speaking of. In our ethnocentric way, we totally assumed that he knew what one was without even asking. When we spoke to Gabby about a “minimum wage”, he was shocked and told us that there was no such thing in Kenya. He asked us how many cows men had to give to the family of the girl they wanted to marry. When we tried to explain to him the idea of love and the fact that there is no real bartering system (except for usually a diamond ring), he was shocked. He stopped dead in his tracks and said, “Wait a minute, so girls in Canada are free?” He told us that coupled were to never show affection in public, and it was the most disrespectful when they showed affection in front of their parents. And when we told him that homosexuality was widely accepted in Canada he was shocked. He asked about how many children were orphans and how many people had AIDS. It was quite the eye-opening conversation, not only for him, but for us as well.
Gabby’s question regarding orphans and AIDS brings me to commenting on what we have seen in our placement so far. We have seen quite a number of clients, and no joke, 95% of the children do not have one parent, and 80% of the children are orphans. The devastating effect that both malaria and HIV/AIDS has had on the Kenyan population is astounding. About half of the children we have seen were born without a disability. And of these children, most if not all have had a bout of malaria which after has left them severely impaired. The concern for these children is what will happen when their primary caretaker (usually a grandparent) dies. Most family members are reluctant to welcome a child/person with a disability into their home, even if there is no one else to look after them. I would once again like to thank all of you who have donated to the fundraising campaign I had. I cannot tell you how much of a difference a small donation can make. For $10 Canadian dollars, we were able to send a girl and her father to the hospital where she could get tested for erratic seizures she was having. We had another little boy who had severe CP and epilepsy. The child’s epilepsy was so severe that he seized on average about 10-11 times a day. Nikita and I could hardly keep ourselves together when during our initial assessment when the little boy had a 2-minute seizure in front of us. We asked the grandmother (both parents had died) if she gave him his medication, and she told us that she didn’t think it worked so she stopped giving it to him. Your donations have allowed for this boy to come to an epilepsy clinic we are holding where medication and education will be provided. For $80, a child or adult can have calipers made which can help them walk independently. For $120, a child with severe impairment can get a wheelchair. And for $150, you can send a child to a school for those with disabilities for an entire year. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
Amongst all the sadness, there are moments of hilarity. Most families are very religious here and like to pray before we start a treatment session. As we were praying I noticed Nikita looking up and laughing. When we were done she nudged me to look up top of the cabinet which housed the dishes. When I looked up, I saw not only one, but two hens staring back at me. We could not stop laughing because they started making such loud noises that we couldn’t hear the client’s parents. We asked why they were just casually placed atop of the cabinet and they told us that the hens were laying their eggs. Just when we thought we had seen it all, four ducks just strolled through the living room going unnoticed by everyone but us. They took a few laps around the room and exited just in time for a cat to come hissing in. When that was done, it was time for the cows outside to start mooing. It took us twice the time than we had initially planned to complete the assessment.
We’ve been having a great and eye opening experience here. I try to capture as much as I in this blog, but even with effort, it is difficult to do.
Thanks again to all of you for following. Hope the summer is treating you well!
Love & Hens, Ducks & Cows,
Shahla
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