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Showing posts from June, 2015

Oh the Americans are here. Make spaghetti.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed quickly and easily as we now all adjusted to Kenya time (Goodbye jet lag!) and were back to our Joytown research routine. We knew what had to get done and the time we had to do it in.   SACDEP welcomed us back with a Tuesday meal including "American food" aka spaghetti noodles. Just noodles. Haha Thanks, Kenya. We continued our wheelchair research at Joytown Primary School and got to return to the Secondary School (Kenyan High School equivalent) for a second survey time with the students. I realized through this survey that although we are very different, Kenyans and Americans, much is the same. High school students are high school students. They are teenagers. Some with attitudes, most with dreams, and all of them with lives that are just as real and crazy to understand as my own. *Philosophical vent over* Once our survey work was finished, Danielle decided to jump in and join a group of Secondary girls rehearsing songs for an upcoming talen

Still enjoying the view

The emailed instructions told us to be at the Paediatric ward of Kijabe Hospital at 9am for rounds with Dr. Muma. So there Danielle and I stood at 8:55am, dressed and ready.   Shadowing day 1. We waited excitedly but with an air of confusion as neither of us had ever met this doctor to know what he looked like. Would he come find us? It's not like we're hard to spot since we just blend in so well with all the Kenyans around… Eventually, we gathered the courage to push through the ward doors and find someone who knew more than us. We walked cautiously down the hall and finally stopped to tap the shoulder of a large Kenyan man wearing a white coat. He turned and looked at us with a blank yet authoritative expression. "Excuse me, do you know where Dr. Muma is?" I managed to ask. The large man simply smiled a bit, raised his eyebrows and nodded. "You're him aren't you" I offered. Dr. Muma nodded again and listened as we explained that we were invited