Nairobi again, en route to Ghana

My flight is at 3:30am, so I am hanging out in the in-country coordinator's apartment. I have completed my month in Kenya, and it has been a great success! I apologize for not updating the blog more often, though I have had access to internet at least once a week. The problem has been that a weird series of full page ads crop up instead of my log in page whenever I open blogger, and I haven't been able to find how to close them out or avoid them without clicking on anything on it... and since connection speeds have been, say, less than optimal, I've decided to wait it out.

Let me start by clarifying a few things about living standards in rural Kenya. I didn't HAVE to cut my hair short; as far as I know, no other volunteer does this prior to visiting and they are perfectly fine and happy! For myself, I am impatient with vanity and have thick hair that grows fast, so I wanted to cut it anyway.

Also, I have not been attacked by insects, either in the showers, toilets, out and about, sleeping, or anywhere! I had a couple bite here and there, but they were gone within 24 hours, and I haven't even been wearing repellent! They say it's mosquito time because it's rainy season, but really, considering I had suffered over 40 bites within 2 weeks in Belize last year, it must be super safe for any traveler here. I almost wondered if it were necessary to let down the mosquito net around my bed every night, since I nary saw one any evening.

Things have also changed since the last time I was here in 2008; electricity is coming to one village, and had expanded in other villages! Some roads have been paved, and a toilet has been installed at Dago village (one where you pour water in to flush) for volunteers.

I did achieve the goals I set for my trip here, except for reading Harry Potter every day... I realized the kids had enough trouble with my American accent without my having to explain things like streetlights, office buildings, and zoos for them (all in the first book).

In addition to profiling at least 30 people with disabilities in the 3 villages, I've interviewed 11 candidates for the Butterfly Project, 29 students being sponsored or needing sponsorships at Namunyak, made several series of videos for Village Volunteers' YouTube channel for fundraising efforts, discussed starting 3 special education schools and/or rehabilitation clinics at each of the programs, been introduced to a school for the Deaf in Kitale as well as a rare public school accepting kids with physical disabilities, measured 4 people who might benefit from a fitted wheelchair, talked about providing counseling/mental health services and their needs at each of the villages, and even joined in on a mobile clinic outreach effort in a slum called Kipsongo, in which hundreds of men, women and children pushed and shoved to get in to the one room where we were treating wounds, removing jiggers, dispensing medicine, and injecting shots.... I've never ever seen anything like it.

After the first couple weeks, I was already on the verge of tears, having come across so many desperate, seemingly hopeless situations. The day after the overwhelming outreach clinic, I received news of the results of Kevin's doctor appointment. It's not elephantiasis - it's a tumor that has spread its infection to his thigh (not pictured), and damaged the integrity of his bones from the knee down, and will have to be amputated.

I finally allowed myself to cry that night.

How is it fair, in this world in 2011, that a boy with so much ahead of him will now have to lose his leg because something wasn't identified and treated properly earlier? It wasn't just Kevin's situation that got to me, nor the hundreds of sufferers begging for the most basic care, nor the other 30 cases I had profiled for therapeutic help. It was the gaping disparity between the two worlds I live in - the American one that suffers from affluenza and the rest of the world that seems to suffer from everything else... or sometimes from the symptoms of the former.

But I have hope, just like all the caregivers who thanked me for visiting them, asking about them, caring about them. I recovered myself from the tears with the knowledge that, though we couldn't save Kevin's leg, we can save his life. I tried to remember that the whole purpose of my month in Kenya was to discover what and where the needs are, and then send the right people, finances, and opportunities to fulfill those needs. That I just happened to be the first to find and try to help them, so it starts off appearing more hopeless and helpless. That if I didn't come around doing so at this time, we don't know who could have died waiting, or how long caregivers would have suffered in silence, wondering what their child with a disability is going to do when they die because he can't take care of himself. As soon as I can encourage others to care enough to help personally or financially, lives will no doubt get better.

We'll see what the next 3 weeks in Ghana will bring.