Soweto, Pasturization, and Pregnancy

As my title may indicate, I had yet another day filled with unpredictability and excitement. But before I delve into the details here, I would like to start with a rather sobering account of my life at the hospital.

Kenyans are such good people. Today a very poor woman from Soweto staggered up to our desk and asked us if we could register her little son for treatment. She told us candidly that she does not have the 20 shillings for treatment, but she was intent on seeing to it that her son could be treated. Janet, my coworker, said something in Kenyan and pointed as I saw the lady walk back quietly to the bench. Janet explained to me that this lady was one of those individuals who are simply unable to pay for any treatment. The equivalent of 25 U.S cents was too much for her. Janet said she would wind up paying for her.

This little story was not surprising to me, as I have experienced it and mentioned it on my blog a time before. Yet part of this story I have not mentioned. Janet is extremely poor herself. The hospital pays her next to nothing, and she does not even have enough money to send her son to secondary school this fall. Despite her poverty, and despite her desire to provide an education to her son, she still offered to pay for this lady. She did not even know this woman. Imagine the billing lady at your hospital paying for you. Unheard of. Especially if that billing lady is very poor herself. Not wanting to see Janet pay for this either, I reached out of my pocket to pay it myself. Anybody I know would. A quarter is nothing. It's not even nearly enough money to any of us in that it would be the slightest sacrifice.

Today at work I was super excited for my favorite meal during lunch. The cooks outside said they were making Ugali, which is essentially African bread with meat and vegetables. It is my favorite dish here. All day I thought about this dish in my head, thinking about each second I would savor while eating it. Just before lunch, I hear a lady screaming in one of the rooms. She was about to give birth, and the head nurse rushed me in to witness it. No better way to ruin my lunch.

The Kenyan woman did not have any of the luxeries American women have while giving birth. She laid down on a sheetless bed. No towels, IV's, painkillers, family members, or even the dignity of a hospital gown to cover her. Just a sheetless bed and resolve. Within moments her baby sprung out of the body, just as the vomit was about to spring out of mine. I am usually a fan of imagery in my writing, but for the sake of my readers I will take a pass. You can thank me when I get home.

The best part of my day was when Kevin visited the hospital before lunch. I said, "Kevin, come see this woman, she just delivered a baby."

"Oh cool man, he said." Let's just say he ate those words later.

After work, one of the staff members gave Kevin and I a tour of Soweto - a giant slum. It was unbelievable to see people living in such conditions. Broken shacks were surrounded by mounds of burning trash and open sewage leaking into the walking paths. Goats and pigs slurrped up whatever edible filth they could find, and people walked into homes hardly taller than themselves. Despite the unpleasentness of it all, the slum overlooks a gorgeous lake sitting within a great view of the entire town. It is utterly pathetic, frustrating, and dispicable that nobody in the world can manage to spend just several thousand dollars to clean the place up. I know it isn't as easy as that may be, but it is impossible that this is the best that can be done.

On Monday Janet said she will have a special present for me. She is going to bring me fresh milk from her cow. I nervously looked at her and asked "pasturized?" to which she looked at me as if I had 300 heads. I still don't know if I am going to try this milk. It has been a heated debate within my head for several hours now. I am leaning towards yes, or maybe yes and no - which would entail a gurgle or two without swallowing. It's just that I am imagining clumps, which is very unsettling to me.

On an unrelated note, it has been quite interesting to hear what Kenyans think of President Obama. Almost all of them say that he is a good man and they are proud of his Kenyan roots. They still warn however, that he is a U.S president, and so he is naturally detached from their everyday troubles and will serve the U.S interests before anyone else. They are also quite insulted that he has refused to visit Kenya because of "too much corruption." They acknowledge the corruption within their government, but they argue that every nation in the world is filled with corruption themselves - including many nations Obama has already visited. So they take his presidency with a grain of salt. It looks great, and in part it is, but don't get too caught up in the glitz and glamour of it all.

This weekend I will be in Lake Naivasha and Hell's Gate, celebrating 22 years of life on planet Earth. Lake Naivasha is part of West Africa - a region known for its vast wilderness yet only starting to be explored by tourists. Me, Kevin and the eldest son of our family Peter, will all get a hotel on the lake and then take a cab to Hell's Gate, a national park that allows bike riding! We will then find a fun disotech and dance the night away to African music!

Thanks again so much for reading! As I have said before, I still have a ton of things to address about my time here. If any of you are wondering about anything specific, simply ask.

- Tommy