Karibu

I've been hearing a lot of this word "Karibu," a Swahili word which literally means come to me or welcome in a less creepy sense. This village has been so welcoming to me and are anxious to hear about my culture (like Disneyland, Beverly Hills 90210, and Whitney Houston). Of course, I've been learning so much about their culture, including traditions passed down that make community health care so difficult.

I've had some pretty unique and gorey opportunities. You should be glad I'm not capable of posting pictures cause I've done some gnarly stuff. For example, yesterday we had a girl with a septic wound on her foot. We had to scrape the infected, necrotic tissue off the top with a razor blade. Dr. Wood would have been so proud of me - a girl came in with some honey-colored blisters around her mouth and the main health worker at the clinic had no idea what it was. Thanks to Dr. Wood, I was able to identify it as Impetigo and we were able to perscribe the right oral antibiotic accordingly.
Today I went around the village with a community health worker to follow up with mothers who need to get their newborns immunized and to offer them family planning resources (nearly all of them refused - so frustrating). So tomorrow morning I'll be heading out with some community health workers to actually give vaccinations to some of the infants.
For those concerned, I have not had ANY sickness since I've been in the country (I'm in a wooded area with plenty of wood to knock on). I'm eating quite well and I'm having a blast! There has already been talk of me continuing to be involved beyond my few short weeks at EAC. I'm excited to explore those possibilities!