SPOTLIGHT: KALEB

This precious baby is Kaleb. Today he is one month old! He was born premature at 35 weeks and his mother passed away due to pre-ecclampsia. Kaleb has been in the "NICU" (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for the last month without any visitors. Eventually his father is going to come and get him, but no one is quite sure when. He has been discharged for the past 2 weeks and is doing great. He is so precious and I just love snuggling him. He reminds me of all the cute babies I love back in Columbus! It breaks my heart that he hasn't had any visitors so I like to stop by everyday and give him some love. Pray for Kaleb to keep getting stronger, for him to feel special and loved even though he doesn't have any parents or family around. Pray for his father who is going to resume responsibility of him eventually, pray that he comes soon. Pray for this sweet little boy who I just love and feel so sad for that he will never know his mother.

My friend Ida!

Oh I just love his little face!

Not only am I learning a ton about the African culture, seeing really cool animals and traveling to new and interesting places I'm learning a lot about myself, about humanity and about God.

Its funny because the people I meet at the hospital, on the community outreaches or even just in town have so little. They can barely feed and clothe their children, they live in huts smaller than my bedroom made of cow dung, can't afford to send their kids to school and make their living off of selling bananas at the fresh fruit market. Yet, they have more faith and an incredible passion for God. Literally everyone I meet is a Christian. And its not like they just call themselves Christians, they genuinely trust the Lord to provide for them, to protect them, to love them and believe that He alone is worthy of their praise. It really makes me think because back in America we have SO much. We have more than we will ever want or need, we have food on the table, jobs and the opportunity to go to school, yet we continually aren't satisfied, we want more from God. I'm totally guilty of this and it seems like every time I'm in Africa I am struck by how much I have and how little these people have, yet how happy they are and how much I still desperately seek happiness in all the wrong places. I want to be more like the Kenyans. I want my heart to be overflowing with joy and love regardless of my circumstances.

I've also realized I'm a lot stronger than I give myself credit. I mean I'm going to the bathroom in a squatty potty everyday, taking cold showers and sleeping in a bed that caves in the center with a mosquito net(which I actually enjoy). I'm eating peanut butter sandwiches twice a day and haven't had chicken fingers in almost a month! Impressed, right? I'm also living on the other side of the world from all my friends and family in a culture where I clearly don't fit in, stripped of all things that make me comfortable. However I feel at home here. I feel safe here. Its like I said above, I'm surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ and we are share the same love and passion for our Savior. Its encouraging, and its beginning to feel like home.

God has been showing me how tightly I hold on to some things in my life, that He is slowly asking me to release and surrender to Him, I've been wrestling and fighting Him, digging my heels in and dragging my feet. But there is something about seeing real people around me trust God and see Him provide for their everyday needs that make me want to trust Him with all the little and big things in my life.
But I am so resistant and headstrong.
I am so stubborn and defiant.
But I want to be different, thats what this trip is all about, right? Starting over, getting a fresh and new perspective on life, on God, on myself. So I am going to stop fighting, I'm going to stop wrestling. I'm going to start trusting, start surrendering, start loosening my grip.

I've also been learning that when I think of starting over and "finding myself"really there isn't a search in store. I am who I am because God says who I am. A friend assured me before I left that I am beloved. I am precious in His sight, my identity is already established in Him and Him alone. My search is really no search at all but a reaffirmation of what I already know to be true. Somewhere along the way I lost that, I lost sight of something that I knew to be truer than anything else in my life. Its slowly coming back to me, in ways I never would have imagined, in ways that if I wasn't looking I would have missed, and there is so much more freedom in that than I ever could have believed. And I don't think He is trying to control my future or every little decision or thought but rather for me to embrace who I already am. And for the first time in a long time, I'm pretty excited about that.

Its a continual journey and I'm continually learning new things about myself and about God. Not the adventure I intended but an adventure for sure!

xo

Weekend Adventure: Safari

This past weekend the University of Texas students and I went on safari to a game preserve about 3 hours away called Samburu National Park. Samburu has all the "big five"(lions, leopards, rhino, elephant and buffalo) so its a popular place to visit. We left at 6am on Saturday morning and got there by 9am. We hunted for animals all day and saw tons of giraffes, gazelles, impalas, monkeys and elephants. We hunted and hunted for cats but couldn't find them anywhere. We stayed in a tent, a tent literally in the middle of a game preserve. (It wasn't quite like wolf pack camping!) There were monkeys and baboons climbing on our tent and stealing our food and following us to the outhouses. It was hilarious, we couldn't leave any food unattended. Also, it was SO HOT. I could barely sleep with the heat and the bugs. Yuck!
We got up at and were out hunting animals by 6:30am on Sunday, the lions were hiding but I got some amazing pictures of other animals.

After leaving the game preserve we also stopped to visit one of the local Samburu tribes. It was super interesting to learn about their way of life and for them to dance for us, show us where and how they live. They believe in polygamy so the men have multiple wives. The men aren't allowed to marry until they are 30 but they marry girls who are 16 years of age! They live in these huts, that the women build, made of cow dung, coated in goat dung to keep away the mosquitos. They have a little preschool for the children where they are teaching the English alphabet and how to count to 20. The kids were adorable, as usual.

The Texas students and the Denmark girls will all be leaving next week so I am sad to see my friends leave. Pray for me to make new friends and find new community here. There is a lot of downtime and it gets lonely, so I'm dreading their departure. New Texas students won't be coming until late May...and I'm having trouble downloading more books for my nook! Luckily I still have three seasons left in Friday Night Lights and a handful of movies. Keep praying for the children in the pediatric ward that are sick and I'll post soon about a baby I fell in love with in the nursery, Kaleb. His mother died during childbirth and now he is an orphan. I have seriously considered stealing him. He is so precious. Miss and love you all!

Spotlight: Evonne

I've decided each week I'll spotlight a child that I've met and fallen in love with that needs your prayers. In case you haven't been able to tell, I love the kids here and I cannot tell you how much my heart breaks for the children that are sick or orphaned in Kenya. They shout Muzungu at us, which means white person, and often in town I get China China, I don't think they see very many asian people around here. Its still really cute even though I'm clearly not Chinese :)
Anyway this week I ended helping in the pediatric ward and for some reason this little girl was fascinated by me. She would just clap and small and laugh whenever I was around. Her name is Evonne and she and her mom have been staying in the hospital for the last week. Evonne has free fluid in her abdomen and is a sick little girl. She is very small and malnourished but precious as can be...she and her mom did not speak english and my Swahili is embarrassing so we mostly just played with the toys in my purse and she loved my sunglasses!
She cannot afford the medical care being provided by the hospital, so often times patients even after they're discharged don't leave the hospital because they can't afford to pay their bill. It sounds like an vicious cycle to stay but most of the time people don't have a choice. Medical care is very expensive for people here and so often times people come to the hospital later than they should or can't leave due to their bill. However they do end up getting 3 meals a day at the hospital, which is more than if they were our on their own.
Evonne totally won my heart today and I just loved snuggling her! Even though she doesn't wear a diaper or pants underneath her dress so I was always afraid she would just start going to the bathroom on me! (she didn't, thank goodness!) Pray for her to get well soon, pray for her family and their financial situation. Pray for all the families who can't afford medical care for their very sick and malnourished children.

Weekend Adventures

It was a holiday weekend here, so we didn't work on Friday. Instead our group traveled to the waterfall right in town. This waterfall provides water to the whole town of Maua. It was breathtakingly gorgeous.

Then we made our own pizza Friday night. Like made the bread from scratch and everything! I had a slight mishap the day before when I tried to make bread and it didn't go so well, so Christina and Ida helped me. It was delicious and probably the best food I've had since I've been here. Here are a couple pictures from the process. 

Saturday, we took the matatu, which is a 14 passenger mini bus, to the closest big town. The matatu is an interesting experience. It costs 200 schillings (about $2.50) to ride an hour, and they like to cram as many people in as possible, so at one point there were 24 adults and a baby riding in this mini bus. Talk about crammed! The town is called Meru and it had a sports club that we heard had a pool. So we went and laid by the pool and read for most of the day. Not too shabby for an African pool, right?

The main attraction in Meru is the Nakumat, which is a large supermarket. Think Walmart, Africa style. I was in heaven. Our little supermarket in town has most of the necessities, but no name brands and no delicious snacks and no cheese, so many people make the hour trip to the Nakumat to shop for "extravagant" items. Here are some of my American favs that I could find :)

He has risen! Easter Sunday was a bit nostalgic for me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Heritage Easter services and it was the first time in a long time I wasn't there to celebrate. We went to the local church right outside the hospital, for the only English service in town. It was supposed to start at 8am, so of course we got there at 8am. It didn't start until a little after 9am. Everything is so slow and no one hurries...another thing I'm trying to adjust to. The service was a very traditional service and I really liked worshipping God and celebrating the resurrection of our Savior with brothers and sisters all around the world. It was a glimpse of heaven and a really cool experience. I spent the rest of the day hand washing my clothes! What a chore. I am now incredibly thankful for washing machines and dryers and I have decided to wear less clothes. My forearms hurt from wringing out my clothes and it took me forever to boil the water, wash the clothes, rinse them and hang them up to dry. And of course because it now rains sporadically everyday I have all my damp clothes strung across my living room in hopes they dry quickly. 

It was nice to have a long weekend but I'm looking forward to getting back into the hospital and getting back to work. I'm going to be spending some time in the maternity ward this week and can't wait to help babies be delivered. I really love babies. Also this coming weekend I'm heading out of town on safari. Stay tuned for some awesome animal pics.

Miss you all and love you lots!

community outreach

Today was another day of community outreach, we went to a different neighboring community and gave vaccinations and also brought alone a couple optometrists. It was another fun and successful day and I wanted to post some of my favorite pictures from the day. I can't get enough of these cute faces.

This is how they weigh babies! They hang them from a scale tied to a rafter.

Things I love...

Things I love...
-adorable little african children. LOVE.
-the beautiful hillsides
-walking through the market
-the hot african sun on my face
-riding in the truck with my head out of the window
-cold fresh drinking water
-mendazi (its kind of like a donut shaped in a triangle)
-taking a shower in the afternoon after the sun has heated the pipes
-giving over 100 families vaccinations, vitamins and family planning supplies in the community today
-Snickers Bars...real just like America Snickers Bars
-my new friends Christina and Eda
-how cheap things are compared to US dollars
-sleeping under my mosquito net. For real.
-yogurt (who knew?)

Things I don't love...yet
-the ant farm living in my bathroom
-watching the people here eat goat. And by eat goat I mean suck and chew the meat off the goat bone. VOM.
-the townspeople who have no understanding of personal space. They love to get up in your face and touch you.
-the bumpy and terrible roads
-when you plan to leave at 9am but don't actually leave until 11:30am. No one is ever on time and everyone moves S L O W.
-pilling 8 people in a vehicle for 5
-all the food here except mendazi
-boiling my water to do anything; wash dishes, wash clothes, drink water, etc
-the dust. its everywhere and all over everything
-the squatty potty

here are just two of my favorite pictures from today at the community outreach. how can you not love these faces?

some snapshots

 I thought it was time I posted some snapshots of my life here...things are going much better. I have made friends with two medical students from Denmark who have been here for 9 weeks so far. They are very friendly and have been generous to show me around and let me spend time with them. Yesterday we went on a 3 hour hike outside of Maua. It was long and hot and hilly but beautiful. Today we went to church, went into town to a cafe, did some yoga and read in the sunshine. It has been a wonderful weekend. I'm looking forward to a community outreach tomorrow and spending some time in the wards this week. Miss you all...xoxo

The gates to the hospital. I live within the hospital grounds.

The sitting room in my flat.

This is my bathroom, squatty potty and a lukewarm shower.

the market outside the hospital.

My bedroom. Mosquito net and all.

some cute street kids

some more street kids we came across on our hike.

my friend Christina buying some tomatoes at the market

the beautiful hillside outside of Maua