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New born babies, destroying a museum, and zebra's crossing!!
Wow. My first week in Kenya has been an emotional rollercoster filled with laughter, amazement and shock! From finding out that Clare had been taking paracetamol instead of antimalarials to walking through trash at the slums...This has certainly been a week to remember!!
I'm staying at Brackenhurst conference centre, just outside the town of Limuru. The centre is surrounded by beautiful tea fields and running trails through the forrest areas (which we of corse walk!!). The cottage that I live in with all the other volunteers is great. I love with 10-13 girls (+/- as people leave and arrive) and 2 boys. Everybody gets on really well. We must be the laziest volunteers ever!! Cleaners come everyday (and even make our beds!!!), we get fresh flowers in the living room, a fire lit every night, our washing done twise a week, and the food...well let's just say that I won't be losing any weight here!!! Full buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week! The evenings are quiet here as we are pretty isolated. However, most evenings we set the living room up for a movie night and all snuggle together on the sofas. It's so nice; everybodys together, the fire crackles in the background, and (usually) sweets, cakes or popcorn get passed around. It all sounds so idilic; but I'm not here for the great food and chill out sessions. I'm here to volunteer in a 3rd world hospital...
My Placement: Kikuyu Hospital
Week 1: Helping on the maternity ward
It's a fact that I'm not known for my natural maternal skills. So I thought, while I'm out here doing something that I've never done before why not throw myself into a situation that I do not feel 100% confident in?? Looking after newborn babies and hormonal mothers definitely falls into this category! Walking into the ward on my first day (Tuesday 7th June) was certainly daunting! The doctors and nurses were extremely welcoming and seemed keen for me to be helping, so I soon settled in. Observing ward rounds with doctors and medical students, helping the midwife with patients in labour, and taking + charting patients vitals (by myself!!!) was just the tip of the iceburg of my learning curve to come.
Working with basic/limitted resources certainly made me appreciate what we have in England! Differences in protocol and treatment plans were interesting. For example, ladies in labour (usually whaling in pain during contractions) are left completely on their own. While I was there, a lady had been induced (with oxytocin) and was having contractions every 10 minuets. I felt uncomfortable listening to her struggling; I wanted to go and to talk to her to try and take her mind off the pain. However, while I'm here I must work as the Kenyans do! There may be a reason (eg religion, tradition, etc) for this behaviour, as the hospital does not seem understaffed. Overcoming the language barriers while chatting to the mothers took some getting used to but, after a couple of failed attempts, I managed to get the hang of it. I enjoyed talking to the patients and seeing their newborns. I felt accomplished at the end of my week in maternity. I felt that I had learnt a lot from my time there. Most imporantly, I was feeling more confident around young babies and while talking to patients (especially with the language barrier). Practicing clinical and communication skills that I have learnt in my last 2 years at Manchester Medical School was a fantastic opportunity.
A trip to Nairobi Slums on Friday 10th June was eye-opening - to say the least! While wading through trash, the smell of sweage and rotting food overwhelmed all of my senses! Children playing bare foot in the rubbish was heart-breaking. The air was incredibly still and sticky due to the costraphobic conditions created by rows and rows of sheds - which acted as peoples homes and businesses! I felt awkard walking through with my decent(ish) trainers and my backpack filled with gagets, sanitizing products & my packed lunch. I refrained from taking a lot of photos as this set-up is these peoples homes and lives - not an exhibit at the zoo!!
We were here to volunteer at Catholine Junior Academy - a slum school. Its didn't quite live up to its name. When I hear the word academy, I think elite, institutional and academic. This school was a tin shed only a little bigger than the average living room. The tiny classrooms contained a couple of benches + tables - and nothing else! When entering through a hole in the tin wall (the front door) we walked on a plank of wood to avoid the river of sewage running by in the ditch below. As we went in we got bombarded by about 50 children (aged 3-6) hi-fiving us and longing for affection. We introduced ourselves and they welcomed us all to their school - very politely!
We were taking them on a trip to the National Museum in Nairobi. This was a big deal for the kids as they often never leave the slums. However, afte the excitement of arriving, we soon found out that only about a third of the parents could afford to pay for the trip (about 2 pounds). Watching the children who couldn't afford get sent home was emotionally tough! We told our co-ordinator that if he'd have told us that this was the case, we'd have all chipped in and paid for all the kids to go. We found ourselves getting quite angry at African Impact (especially as we've paid a lot of money to come here so we'd have expected them to use some funds for situations like this!). In hindsight, it was probably the emotions and shock talking. I'm glad that the group is so close as we were all there to support eachother after this emotionally difficult morning.
At the museum the kids were crazzzzzzzzy! They instantly dispersed in all different directioms. There were kids everywhere; running and shouting; climbing on exhibits! Madness!! They constantly wanted to be picked up and played with, grabbing our hands and refusing to let go (not to mention nearly ripping us in half as one runs one way and one runs the other!). Teaching them the names of animals and bits of african history was fullfilling, and they were all keen to learn. It was an extremely tiring day, but I felt great that I was a part of this AMAZING day for them.
After lunch on the grass (500ml of milk and half a loaf of bread - wolfed down!!) we painted their faces with some facepaints that we had broughts with us. The atmosphere was bursting with excitement as, 1 by 1, we painted each childs face. What a day! Full of blood, sweat and tears (literally!), the range of emotions felt could not be matched by ANY other experience!
Finally its saturday...our first day off after a hectic week. A nice relaxing day...up at 7am, 2 hour drive to a beautiful national park, 8km cycling safari, a 3 hour gorge hike, another 8km cycling!!!! Not so relaxing then! Hell's Gate National Park lies south of Lake Naivasha and is named after a narrow break in the cliffs, once a tributary of a prehistoric lake that fed early humans in the Rift Valley. (Thank u wikipedia!!). Cycling through the savanah plains of the park we spotted zebras, ostriches, warthogs, 2 types of gazelles, buffalo, and a sneek peak at a giraffe with its baby. Our bike ride kept getting interupted by zebras wanting the cross the road right infront of us! Amazing, but after a couple of times it did get quite annoying! Hehe naughtly zebras! After our 8km cycle through the stunning african scenery, we arrived at the start of a challanging 3 hour hike through Hell's Gate Gorge. Rock-climbing (exageration!), a lot of sliding on our bums, and a steaming hot waterfall (due to the volcaninc remains) was just the begining. The stunning senery was breath-taking! At the summit of the gorge - after scaling the cliff face and applying masai warrior paint - we reached our destination for lunch, overlooking the most stunning view of the gorge and surrounding areas. Beautiful! All that was left...was the 8km cyle back to the mini-buses. KILLER!! After the previous 8km bike ride and hike in the searing sun, that last thing that I wanted to do was cycle another 8km! However, the disapearence of the sun and more sightings of plenty of animals made it slightly more bearable! An overwhelming sense of accomplishment made all the hard work worth it!
Sunday was truely a chill out day! After eating 4 pancakes at breakfast (!!) I thought that I'd never want to eat again. But, inevitably, by lunch I was hungruy again!! We all went out for lunch at 'The Tea Farm' which was in the middle of the tea fields surrounding Brackenhurst's grounds. We sat in the garden and had our 3/4 course meal - with unlimitted drinks, and then enjoyed a presentaion about tea. We learnt how it is grown and ultimatley processed into the tea that we all use.
Here's hoping that next week is as packed full of wonder and excitement as this week has been!! Check out the photos in the albulm WEEK 1.
Till next time people :) xxxx
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