Update from Eldoret

Two weeks have come and gone now. I feel that strange phenomenon where the time has flown and yet it feels like I have been here for a long time. I am going to try to make Sunday my update day, so please check back in as you can.

Week two on the pediatrics ward was good. With the presence of a Brown med/peds resident on the team and greater comfort with my Kenyan colleagues, I am enjoying my team even better. Marissa (the Brown resident on my team) and I learned a lot about the medical system at MTRH this past week and feel more comfortable during rounds and admitting on the wards. Here is part of MTRH.



Every Wednesday night, we have a family dinner where IU treats us to a dinner out. The past two Wednesday's have been held at delicious Indiana restaurants. Ashley and I are enjoying some mango lassi and naan about now.



Swahili is coming along. Last week we received lessons on basic medical Swahili and "foodstuffs". So now we can hit the market knowing how to ask for certain foods. Our favorite word in my group is pili pili ho ho, which translates "hot pepper" in English.

This weekend, we ventured away from Eldoret again to Hell's Gate National Park. Here we biked into the park and had a "friendly safari" where there were many exquisite animals but no big cats (hence, the "friendly" part). We saw zebras, giraffes, gazelles, warthogs, various monkeys, and more beautiful birds - one in particular, the Superb Starling with incredible colors to warrant its name.

Getting ready to bike into Hell's Gate










Lower Gorge:



We stayed in bandas at a place called Fisherman's Camp.



Because of these....



I am glad we had these. Lauren, you probably would have been up all night after seeing this ugly guy.




This camp faces Crater Lake, filled with hippopotami among other creatures. It was impressive to see a hippo so close to camp. We made sure not to walk in between the hippos and the water. Making yourself an obstacle from their place in the water makes them nervous and more likely to become aggressive. What a beautiful, gigantic animal to enjoy from a distance...



On our way back to Eldoret, the wildlife spotting continued with baboons working the highways for handouts, warthogs corraling their young back home, and birds flying past our mutatus.







It has been a great two weeks. This is my last week of pediatrics before doing a week with AMPATH (Academic Model for Providing Access to Healthcare) and exploring the work of the IU/Kenya Partnership with HIV/AIDS in the greater Eldoret area. Until next week, kwaheri (good-bye)!