i don't know

It kind of snuck up on me, but my time here is coming to an end. It's easy to lose track of the days here; I've been measuring the amount of time I have left by how many anti-malaria pills I have left. I've been feeling a lot of tension regarding all the information I've learned in microbiology. On one hand, I want to remember everything so I can provide the best treatment. On the other hand, I want to forget about all the bacterium growing on the kids hands as they reach out to hold mine. I've also been running into tension regarding cultural boundaries to health care. The other day a boy in my home stay ripped his big toe nail off playing soccer. I cut off a sleeve from one of my shirts to stop the bleeding, but when I started to give him Tylenol for the pain, his mom took the pills from me and said he couldn't have them because of the Ramadhan fast. I had to watch him cry and writhe in pain. I've officially left EAC with promises to come back for a longer period of time. Tomorrow I'm heading back out to the clinic in the bush to spend some time and say more goodbyes.

I've been preparing for the inevitable question, "What's Kenya like?" I started cataloging all the quirks of Kenya like how people always answer "fine" when you ask them how they are. The latest fashion trends consist of clothes that never should have been made (mostly shoulder pads). The good muslims wear white on Fridays. Many waiters say, "nice time" when they bring you your food. Tortilla chips don't exist.

So what is Kenya like?

I don't know.

Baobab trees...wow.

Sunset in Takaungu

in the process of de-worming. neat.

burns and bad at-home birthing practice pictured here - look at that umbilical region.

this is the girl with the wound we scraped my first day there, it was amazing to see how much better she got over the few weeks i was there.

it's not nice to pick favorites, but this kid is just hilarious.

"Measles! Measles! Measles....free vaccinations....September...."

outside the clinic

i'm making signs here for the big measles campaign we lauched with the Ministry of Health

I've been able to do mobile HIV testing for people in remote villages. There has also been a recent outbreak of measles in the villages so we teamed up with the Ministry of Health to provide measles vaccinations to prevent further outbreaks in the villages.

There are more pictures that I wanted to post but couldn't because of the internet issues out here. However, now that I am back in Nairobi, I might be able to post more within the next few days.

ben