every country or bust!
ann and i spent 2.5 days at the sweetwaters safari lodge/tented camp in the ol pejeta conservancy about 5 hours north of nairobi, and it was amazing! see the previous post for pictures of the animals. because of the covid-19 pandemic, one night we were the only guests in the entire lodge. our tent looked directly onto a watering hole, where there were animals 24/7. they put hot water packs in our beds in the evening when they turned them down in preparation for us. glamping at its best!
we drove north from nairobi to nanyuki and the ol pejeta wildlife conservancy. along the way we stopped for some nyama choma, kenyan grilled meat.
the kisumu impala sanctuary is kenya’s smallest national park. it is less than 1 square kilometer in area, and completely surrounded by the city of kisumu. it offers a nice place to walk around freely with animals!
i had a free weekend in kenya, so i jumped on a very inexpensive flight from nairobi to kisumu, kenya’s third largest city, on the shores of lake victoria. the climate is much more hot and humid than in nairobi, and the predominant ethnic group in this area are the luo people, who have their own language and customs. kisumu is a nice, mid-sized city which was fun to wander around. i did not encounter any other tourists. i wandered all around the city for 2 days – the expansive market area, the downtown business district, and along lake victoria south of the city, where there is an impala sanctuary, some fishing villages, and a place called hippo point which is where everyone goes to relax on the weekends and watch the sun set over lake victoria.
in past decades kisumu was a major trading center and port, but barriers to trade between the countries of east africa have unfortunately atrophied these connections. another interesting thing to see near kisumu which i didn’t have a chance to visit is a unique rock formation called kit mikayi. this site is believed to be sacred by members of the legio maria sect, a pentacostal offshoot of catholicism unique to the luo people of kenya who believe that christ reincarnated as an african man.
at the fishing village at the end of the road to the south of kisumu, i picked out a fresh raw fish and had it fried it front of me, lakeside, which was amazing!
in december i was lucky enough to travel to kenya for a truly epic and once-in-a-lifetime family reunion! 67 family members convened for a week that had been in planning for years. due to the fact that it was residency interview season i didn’t think i would be able to make it, but i managed to avoid scheduling any interviews for that week and a couple days prior, when airfares remained exceptionally cheap, i decided to go for it!
it was so great to see my extended family, many of whom we hadn’t seen for years. also many young children who i had not yet had the chance to meet. we stayed at a mission-run guesthouse in nairobi for a few days, visiting an elephant orphange one day. another day we went to the town of kijabe, where all my mother’s siblings grew up. we visited the gravesites where some of our ancestors are interned. the family has lived in kenya since the american civil war!
we took some crowded buses to tsavo game park for one night, where we stayed in an opulent game lodge! then we continued through mombasa to turtle bay, a resort on the indian ocean! it was all-inclusive and amazing! then it was quickly back to america, with a residency interview dinner on the day of arrival. it was a really special trip; memories forever!
i spent the last week in kijabe on the men’s ward of the hospital. headed into nairobi on friday and made a stop at westgate, the nicest mall in kenya. good thing i didn’t discover it sooner, or i would have gone there far too much! went to my aunt andrea’s house who lives in nairobi – and got to hang out with my aunt sheila and cousin sonya who are on their way through to tanzania; it was a family reunion! there was even supposed to be another aunt and uncle around but unfortunately they are stuck because of the icelandic volcanic ash cloud. i was supposed to leave early saturday, but the airline pushed the flight back to sunday. went out to lunch with my cousin sonya and did some more window shopping. had amazing ethiopian dinner with the extended family, and headed to the airport at around midnight.
i’ve really enjoyed my time in kenya, and learned a lot. the people at kijabe hospital are amazing – they exemplify what it means to truly love people and to make personal sacrifices that translate that love into something tangible – no money involved. and it has definitely confirmed for me that i should be a doctor.
i successfully completed the bus ride from nairobi to kigali rwanda. it was supposed to take 24 hours; it took longer. took the kampala coach – it reeked with an unimaginably horrid stench that made me nauseous for the first time in a really long time. after taking about 45 minutes to move the first 100 meters (nairobi traffic), i could tell it was going to be a long trip. the bus remained about 20 degrees hotter than the outside air all day (the outside air was perfect) – every time i opened the window the people in front of me promptly closed it. the guy beside me wore a winter parka the entire time. we stopped in nakuru and eldoret for some much needed air. somewhere in western kenya one of the back tyres (that’s how they spell it here – blame the british influence) started coming off. we stopped and, in true african fashion, it took about two hours to tighten it back up. i spent the time chatting with the only other mzungu on the bus – a british bloke with an afro who was about my age. at the ugandan border we got out and walked across a muddy no mans land before having to pay more than enough for a visa. got to kampala in the middle of the night for a short stop at kampala coach’s squalid headquarters in the industrial area. got held up for no particular reason at the uganda/rwanda border for a few hours, and for some reason they decided all the luggage couldn’t remain under the bus – it all had to be stacked in the aisles for the rest of the trip.
but the bus trip was more than worth it – kigali is an absolutely beautiful city! the roads are amazing (my cynical side suspects guilt money from the west for not stopping the genocide). there is a 24 hour nakumatt (african walmart) surrounded by a very pleasant mall downtown. for some reason i seem to gravitate toward the malls. i also gravitate toward the slums. the bus station is at the bottom of a huge hill, and when i got there it looked like the downtown was at the top of the hill, so i decided to hike up to it through the slums rather than the main road. the people’s response indicated that i might have been the first mzungu to ever do that. i don’t think i’ve ever felt as conspicuous. everyone just stops in their tracks and stares, and “mzungu,” “mzungu,” “mzungu” is the only word you hear. the kids yell it and run up to touch you which is great, but the hotshot young men say it angrily before spitting on the ground and the women mutter it under their breath.
anyways, at the top of the hill the aura completely changed. beautiful traffic circles with manicured gardens in the middle, numerous brand new glass skyscrapers, etc. rather impressive. just explored for the rest of the day. one can take these taxi motorcycles anywhere in the city for about $1. they give you a helmet that is about ten sizes bigger than anyone’s head, and the straps are invariably broken, so you have to hold on with one hand to keep it there. it would be a lot safer if you could hold on to the back of the bike with both hands and forget the helmet! its wonderful. found a cheap motel – turns out it had a tiny television in the room! so i got to watch tv for the first time in three months!
this morning i went to the genocide memorial center, a very impressive museum that just opened a few years ago to commemorate the infamous 1994 genocide that killed 800,000 – 1,000,000 rwandans. over 250,000 of them are buried right there on site. very sad story. clearly still a very central theme in every single rwandan’s life, as well as the national identity as a whole. also went to the hotel des mille collines – the impetus for the film hotel rwanda. if you haven’t, see it. even most of the modern music videos playing in the restaurants are centered on the genocide. interestingly, rwanda remains the most densely populated country in africa even with all those people, as well as all the refugees who left, gone. a few other random facts about rwanda before i peace out – lusciously green. very mountainous. they love their beer – at least half of every store is devoted to it, as are the vast majority of billboards and roadside stalls. the main reason a tourist would come to rwanda is to see gorillas. but a one day permit to the national park where they live literally costs more than i have in my bank account. everyone speaks french, no english. this makes buying a bus ticket (or anything you can’t just point at) challenging for someone like myself. recently rwanda has become known as a model for the developing world. stellar economic growth. minimal corruption. effective government. its almost as if it doesn’t belong in africa. wonderful place.
i spent last week in wairegi, the men’s ward of the hospital. i learn a lot from the morning rounds. it is really nice of everyone here to let me join them for their rounds, and ask questions, etc. the ward is extremely crowded, with only about a foot between each bed and beds in the hallway and whatnot. also spent a night in casualty with my friend joel and watched a few too many people die. like one guy not much older than me who we had admitted to the ward that morning for very non life threatening things. a nice guy. he got out of bed and collapsed, and then we got called and tried to revive him but he died. then about five minutes later the same thing happened with a little baby in the nursery. spent the easter weekend at home with the bransfords. there was a very nice sunrise service on sunday morning, followed by a potluck breakfast attended by all the kijabe mzungus. thank God for easter!
a couple weeks ago i swallowed a doxycycline tablet before bed (taking it for malaria prophylaxis). long story short, it stayed in my esophagus and basically burned a hole in it. the pain has been almost unbearable, especially when swallowing. thankfully now it is getting a bit better.
the bransfords left on vacation to mombasa yesterday. because mrs. bransford is not here to cook i eat my dinners at mama chiku’s hotel (around here, hotel means restaurant). i just tell the mama that i want a good meal, because i have no idea what’s on the menu. actually i don’t even think they have a menu. usually what comes out is something like rice, beans, meat and chapattis, for the equivalent of less than $2. yesterday i went to the cure hospital, a separate hospital right beside kijabe hospital that specializes in pediatric orthopedics. i watched some fascinating surgeries, like a club hand repair. and lots of casting of broken bones. monday i went into nairobi to buy a bus ticket for an epic trip that i’m leaving on very shortly. lets just say that if you never see another post here again its probably because i’ve been kidnapped by rebels somewhere deep in the rainforest on the other side of lake victoria…
i had a funtastic weekend in mombasa! i caught the night bus (eight hours) down on thursday night with a guy named kevan that i met last weekend and kent, his kiwi roommate from the orphanage they volunteer at. wandered around the river road area of nairobi a bit before we left – i can see why some people are scared to go out at night in nairobi! we missed (through no fault of our own) the bus we were supposed to take at 9:30pm, so we had to buy new tickets for a bus at 12:30am. but we got there, and after a great ferry and a little more matatu riding than it turns out was necessary, found the idyllic diani beach and the girls, sonja and ali. found a hotel room a matatu ride from the beach for $12 a night, and us three guys shared a room by putting the mattresses together on the floor. basically spent three days on the beach which was glorious. three study abroad students from the midwest usa came for a couple days too, as did a couple peace corp volunteers and some christian law student volunteers from the uk. good times. also lots of male bonding in our room because it was very necessary to have someone else thoroughly rub aloe into our sunburned backs. one day we went snorkeling out on the reef. eventually found out that kent was a christian too so that was cool!
we spent some time in mombasa town and got a bit of a tour from the friendly peace core workers who live in the area, and just wandering around. mombasa is a very interesting city – predominantly muslim, always very hot and humid, rich history, etc. where else would you find a fort jesus, pentacostal churches, mosques, animists, and jain and hindu temples within extremely close proximity? i liked it. we went to a coffee shop in the old city where they serve coffee with all kinds of delectable spices in it. a few different times.
barely caught another night bus back on monday night, and then went to the boy’s orphanage tuesday morning in a suburb of nairobi called waithaka, just to see where they spend their time. they hang out with preschoolers all day – who are really cute. all in all, i don’t see how the weekend could have been any better! back to the hospital tomorrow!
i have spent this week with the aidsrelief team, who are a special medical unit fighting valiantly to fight hiv/aids in the kijabe catchment area. they provide free antiretroviral therapy (arvs) and various symptomatic treatment free of charge to all hiv positive people who want it – courtesy of pepfar- the president’s (of the united states) emergency plan for aids relief. so i have been learning a lot about cd4 count trends, viral loads, the various antiretroviral regimens, protocol for switching to second line therapy, etc. two days i spent in their clinic in the hospital – doing rounds of the aids patients who are in the hospital at the time and then clinics. and then i went to two rural clinics in places called gilgil and githunguri, where the clinicians go to the people’s towns for their follow up appointments. because one of the worst things that can happen is that people will start taking arvs and then be inconsistent – and the virus easily develops mutations to the drugs – and they spread it – and next thing you know the drugs won’t work on anyone anymore. so the biggest challenge is keeping people adherent to their regimens. its such a big deal that there are people hired to go around to patients homes and make sure they are taking their meds. remarkably, even though the drugs are the cheaper ones available, many people can live their entire lives on them and never come down with aids.
last weekend, i got to go into nairobi and stay with my aunt who lives there for a couple nights. it was a lot of fun. on sunday we went to nairobi baptist church (huge and basically western despite the lack of mzungus [white people]) and then got some chinese food. and on saturday i hung out with some fellow canadians! two nurses who are volunteering at an internally displaced people (idp) camp, and a guy who is working at an orphanage.
we went to the famous kibera, the second largest slum in the world after soweto south africa, and got a tour from a really cool kenyan guy who lives there. he is spearheading a large number of development projects there, and earns his money by organizing the filming of various documentaries and films such as the constant gardener. it was very interesting just to walk around in the slum – the kids in there certainly weren’t suffering for lack of happiness! conditions were pretty bad though, as you can probably imagine. the worst problem is the lack of garbage and sewage disposal, so those two things in particular tend to pile up all over the place.
we then went to the giraffe center – a place where one can get up close and personal with a special breed of giraffe that is almost extinct. if you put some grass in your mouth the giraffe will kiss you! it was fun. then we went to a japanese restaurant for some pretty good sushi. this weekend i am going with the same peeps to mombasa on the coast (indian ocean), so it should be a great weekend!
