Greetings from under the mosquito net!

Hello all! And welcome to my new blog! I usually can keep up with people pretty well through phone calls, email, facebook and myspace so I have never felt the urge to have a blog before … But now not having an (affordable) phone to stay in touch with people, and far too many people to email everyone individually, I am going to try this instead!

As most of you probably know, I am now in Eldoret, Kenya for seven weeks working in a hospital here. My good friend from residency, Naomi, is here with me. The trip here was pretty uneventful… just lots of hours on a plane. We flew Indy to Chicago, Chicago to London, London to Nairobi and then finally Nairobi to our final destination, Eldoret. When we landed in Nairobi, it was night time so we didn’t get to see much of the city. Naomi and I both commented that didn’t seem all that different from places we had seen in the US… and then we woke up. Driving through the city during the morning rush hour was quite eye opening. People walking everywhere, old vans entirely jam-packed full of people (Seriously, they made clown cars look like reasonable modes of transportation), livestock on the road, and basically death defying driving (I held my breath several times thinking we were going to hit a pedestrian or another car…). We got to see some of the highlights of the city, including Nairobi National Park (from the road only) as well as the slums and shanty houses. I thought I had seen poor before, having lived in Memphis and been into Appalachia on a mission trip, but this was different… Exactly what you picture when you think of “third world.”

Our first trip to the hospital was also eye-opening… The pediatrics “ward” consists of two hallways with rooms off of them, each room housing 8 beds, and each bed containing either one or two children. Often times there are also mothers sitting on the beds, making the single bed quite crowded. And parents at Riley complain about sharing a room! The HIV+ rate here is somewhere between 50-75% which adds a whole new realm of complexity to the differential diagnosis and caring for these children. Malaria, TB, meningitis, parasites, toxoplasmosis, and HIV (or any combination of the above!) are often the top 6 things on the differential. And the hospital works so much differently… Lab tests take forever to get back and even then, are often times are unreliable. It is hard to know how to react to this as we don’t want to offend the Kenyan doctors and nurses but it can be very frustrating. The first day on the wards, I watched this 2 month old seize and posture (for those not medical, that means basically badness), get bagged a few times, eventually get a bolus (with another baby laying on the bed next to him) and then he was just kind of left to hopefully recover… In the U.S. this would have been treated as a code situation, this baby would have been intubated and rushed to the ICU. There are just not the resources to deal with situations like that. That baby’s mother died last week of HIV so chances are that this baby has it too. I was shocked to see that baby still alive today…

It has not been all depressing though. Today I had a great day. While I was waiting for other members of my team to show up this afternoon (punctuality is not a high priority!) I met these two beautiful sisters, Ebenezu (7 y/o) and Shalom (5 y/o). Shalom approached me cautiously at first (I kind of stand out here…) but I offered her a sticker and got quite the smile with that. She sat down right next to me and proceeded to raid my white coat pockets. She loved the hand sanitizing gel and couldn’t get enough of the sticker book. Soon after that, she was writing out the alphabet, numbers (she knew 1-100!), and spelling out her name. She not only spoke Swahili, but also English and was one of the most curious, intelligent, charming little girls I have ever met. Her sister was also absolutely beautiful, a little more cautious than Shalom, but just so kind. Ebenezu played with my hair while Shalom dug out my stethoscope and listened to my heart. Their mother said that Ebenezu wants to be a lawyer and Shalom, a doctor. I can only hope and pray that this country affords these beautiful, intelligent children all the chances that they deserve.

It has also been entertaining to see the Kenyan response to Obama’s win. I woke up Wednesday morning to cheers out on the streets. Today was declared a “national holiday” yesterday and many Kenyans took off work. There is a reggae song on the radio that I have heard NUMEROUS times with the chorus of “Barack… Obama… Barack… Obama…” You should look it up on itunes if you get a chance. It’s there! I’ve seen people wearing American flag capes and basically everywhere you go, you are asked if you voted for Obama. Today some of the orphaned kids that basically just live at the hospital had a little parade with American flags that they had made. I wish I had my camera for that…

Anyways, I should sign off for now! Not having a cell phone, I live for messages and emails so please keep in touch! I miss you all so very much and send hugs to all of you!