Havent written in some time. Hope you are are well. Everything is going good here. Just passed the three month mark and I am starting to feel very comfortable in Kenyan and at the same time homesickness is really creeping in.
I think i may be in my favorite job i have ever had... except the pay that is. i am volunteering in an internally dispalced person camp. on tuesday anmd thursdays i work alongside a retitred nurse fro the surrunding community and a pahrmcst from camp in the clinic. many sick children. respiratory illnesses, malaria, hypertension, diabetes, chronoc pain, ameobas, dysentary. it is different very different from 5 north cardiac telemtry and really challenging my assessment skills. my favorite times are home visits. there are several people with chronic illnesses in camp that i visit weekly. combiong two of my loves-tents and home health care. on wednessdays i meet with the HIV group at camp. i also joineda prayer group with some ladies on wednessday evenng as well. in this next month. we will be attemoting to hold a course for mamams on child and womens health. we are also working on a poridge program for malnourished babies. im really l;iking being here. it is challenging and frustrating and rewarding and beautiful and heartbreaking and inspiring all at once.
i am making some good friends and speaking some good kiswahili. i get made fun of a lot in my attepmts but it adds entertainmets. thee was a soloar eclispe here a couple of weeks ago that blew my away. i have a brother from new zealand named joel agrandam named paris and a new mom named mary. there is anoth volunteer from new york named shamarie.
my fundraing website is not working. if you would like to donat please send donations to my mom at 37773 Circle Drive harrison twp. MI 48045 i am fundraising to offset medical costs in the clinic. things like madications and hospital fares. even the smalles tamount is helpful. i really love you and i appreciate your kind words and proayers. really looking forward to coming home and being with you all. i love you.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
IDP CAmp
hey guys. i am in a new place now. and i love what i am doing. i dont know what i am doing yet but things feel good. i love you so much. thank you Laura for your donation. There is so much that could be done but in honor of your passion i am going to use it to benefit the mothers with disabled children group. three children have cerebral palsy and requir therepy. more laterr. hop you are well.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
happy new year
just wanted to wish you all a happy new year. hope that all your 2010 dreams come true. today was my last day with WASAW. it was sad but i am truly looking forward to moving to nakuru. there i will be able to participate more in a nursing role. i i will still get to see my wasaw friends when coming back to Nairobi. waht are your new years resolutions?
Sunday, December 27, 2009
HOME ALONE!
you guys i am home alone for the first time in kenyan!!!!! PARTY!!! i am spending this special time by watching MTV. my house family just got cable. on christmas we watched about five hours straight of true crime documentaires from the U.S. i thought that it may be Mr. richardsons dream holiday. wow. lady gaga in now wearing this red mask viel thing. i am so lost on my pop culture these days. something elses i am learning. americans should not attemp to make mexican food in kenay. for christmas eve i made tacos. it did not work and both my little brothers went hungry. pink is now on the trapezee. wow. at church on christmas morning thesse goats kept coming in the church. it was reallt entertaining. even more so than mtv reight now.
i was able to visit my next palcement last week. i travelled to nakuri=u with my roomate and irene. the IDP camp called pipeline that laura and i visited in april seems to have improved. in fact all of VICDAs project that i have returned to ahave improved which gives me much faith in Irenes organization and makes me feel more confident that i made the right choice in coming back to kenya. at pipeline i will be working with two other volunteers hannah from new zealand and stewart from maryland.. i am really looking forward to my time there. in august some austrailians funded a project to buil the camp a clinic. it is so nice but is only staffed two days a week. i met the pharmacist volunteers there namked linet. she is a lovely women and we are looking forward to working together.
hope your christmasses were wonderful. and i hope you have a great new year. love you.
i was able to visit my next palcement last week. i travelled to nakuri=u with my roomate and irene. the IDP camp called pipeline that laura and i visited in april seems to have improved. in fact all of VICDAs project that i have returned to ahave improved which gives me much faith in Irenes organization and makes me feel more confident that i made the right choice in coming back to kenya. at pipeline i will be working with two other volunteers hannah from new zealand and stewart from maryland.. i am really looking forward to my time there. in august some austrailians funded a project to buil the camp a clinic. it is so nice but is only staffed two days a week. i met the pharmacist volunteers there namked linet. she is a lovely women and we are looking forward to working together.
hope your christmasses were wonderful. and i hope you have a great new year. love you.
Friday, December 18, 2009
one week till christmas
dear freinds- i edited my last post. the seminar at kibera was not one that i organized i just participated. my mom mentioned something about it and it made me realize my post was misleading. i will try harder to make thinhgs clear. i still wont spell corectly. any who i am think ing of you lots and i hope everything is going well for you. tell me about your holiday palns. the difrancos do a theme gift every year for christmas. this year they are donating to charity for their theme gift. it really inspired me to create my own chairty to raise money for the people i am supporting. they need things to meet their basic needs like food but also capital to continue making income. my college kathrin and i have been supporting them where we can, if you would also like to help you can do so by visiting http://juliedifranco.chipin.com/kenyans. i will be using any donation directly to support kenyans in the HIV group and in the IDP camps. projects include purchasing a sewing machine for income generation and basic health needs in the IDP clinic. it is ok to give and it is ok not to give. on jan 4th i will be moving to nakuru to work in the internally dispalced person camp in their clinic. i am really looking forward to it.for christmas and new years i am going to lay low. this weekend i get to see gladys, a nursing student, i helped to sponsors last visit. i am freaking excited! she is so sweet and lou i remembered the pop rocks for her. ill let you know her reaction. hey mary i love that placenta tree photo so awesome. we should dance around it in a big circle in the spring holding hands and being merry. i love you guys with all my heart. for christams i would like to organize a phone dat e with anypone willing let me know. i am buying a phone card today. miss you
Thursday, December 3, 2009
a real post
soooo... i am really horrible at bloging. looking back i have noticed that i have told you about pink mangoes, singing plants, and penises but not much else. the reason this is because it is really important for me to tell the truth to you and fiquring out what the truth is can be a tricky thing so i have been giving real scientific facts instead. all plants are doing well by now with germany and control grouped tried by the way.
truth #1 thanksgiving was hard. i kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking ok right about now they are cutting the turkey.... and a little later.... ok right about now my friends are a little buzzed. it was good practice for christmas. i always remeber irv during this time. it has been 11 years since 1998. on thanksgiving weekend whatever i do i do for him. on sunday i hiked with giraffes for irv.
now i will tell you about my work. for the past month i have been working with a group of women who are hiv positve. they pride themsleves on being above stigma. what is stigma? probably a bigger killer than AIDS itself. i reasd about stigma in school and in stuff i like to read. it is one of the reasons that HIV is so hard to manage and why it spreads so rapidly in some parts of the world. fo a rough definition it is a mix of misleading beliefs, lack of knowledge, peer pressure, and fear. it leads to discrinination and therefore people lose their libves because their support systems crumble. the reason these women have fromed a group is for social support, community outreach and financial stability. Each women had thier own story of how HIV has effected their lives. Manyy lost thier husbands through death or abandomment many of thier children are also sick. this decreases thier econonic welfare and creates emotional trauma. community and family members often turn their back on people in kenya infected and therefore support groups are really important. our daily activities include jewly making, counseling, home visits to community mebers who are sick, planning education seminars for the community. the unique thing about the group of wmomen is that they are vocally speaking out about their status to fight stigma. stigma is so strong. last week i could not go to a bedriden patients house because a white person going to her home may signal that she has AIDS to her nieghbors causing larger problems. knowing ones HIV status is one of the first steps in fighting the spread of disease. i could really go on about how diifcult this simple thing can be i could talk for so long. i really care about the issue of HIV/AIDS. i feel lucky to be doing this work at this time of year when their are worldwide AIDS campaigns occurig. on the news everynight this week there has been an educational segment on AIDS. for every depressing factoid i hear about the disease a good thing also happens which leads me to belive that one day things will be what ever they will be. hehe. on the 1st kenya even had a gay and lesbian AIDS awarness day HUGE STEP! as a nurse i have seen health so differntly this past month. i really love public health, community health, home health even more than before. and maslows hierechy of needs is truly illustreated infromt of me daily. FOOD FIRST! the women i work with are on ARVs to stop the rate of growth of the virus inb their bodies. theses medicines are free to them abut food is not. so they have the medications for the disease but are often not able to eat. without nutrition how nuch can medciation do? well actually a lot the drugs work really well to help people living with the disease but you undersatnd right?
in the past month some political changes have occured that have forced us to change the place where we work, and the dynamics of the group. i have truly learned the meaning of empowerment and the value of working slow and listening. it is something i will take home with me. it has forced me to view aid work and volunteerism from several difernt angles. if you are praying please pray for a posiive impact, and patience, smart choices, and hope.
a crazy week. on friday i was invited to an aids seminar in kibera the second largest slum in the contient in africa. waht i learned. if you want kenyans to pay attention.... make a lot of noise!!! it was great to see. in my opinion, community heaklth at ists finest. they started with a coulpe of hundred people, a school band, and a huge puppet. when we got to the fairgrounds they had pry one thousand people gathrered. the organizers sang, danced, had drama, and a football, game to illustrate the information on the importantce of HIV testing and health. it was amzing! and of couarse hot!
the vert next day i travekd to a multimillion dollar home. the contrast was stunnjing. spemdiong one day in kibera with open swears and 1 million people and the next on a vast homesteaad with 6 cars, mango tress, and a talking parrot. the gap between rich and poor is so startiling and visible here.
i am just scratching the surface of some of the things i think about. i feel weird sharing so much on a blog because it is new to me. there are some really intamait( not sexy)things i would love to share about the experirence hera so we have coffee talk when i get home and i will talk your ear off.
i think about you everyday. thank you for your comments, texts, emails, prayers and good wishes. paula abdul is on the radio right now : "rush rush" so much fun in the basement on cantebury.
books i am reading:
so much ROald Dahl. my bother has a roald dahl treasury, THE BFG, GOING SOLO so good
invisilbe cure
half the sky thank you mary
just bought a book called half world away- yeah and it is referencing the OASIS song SCORE! BTW they are breaking up.
2006 readers digest
i really love hearing from you. i am so thankful for you.
TIM the TOolman ALLEN WISDOM: excerpt from 2006 readers digest
Leave every situation better than you found it
truth #1 thanksgiving was hard. i kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking ok right about now they are cutting the turkey.... and a little later.... ok right about now my friends are a little buzzed. it was good practice for christmas. i always remeber irv during this time. it has been 11 years since 1998. on thanksgiving weekend whatever i do i do for him. on sunday i hiked with giraffes for irv.
now i will tell you about my work. for the past month i have been working with a group of women who are hiv positve. they pride themsleves on being above stigma. what is stigma? probably a bigger killer than AIDS itself. i reasd about stigma in school and in stuff i like to read. it is one of the reasons that HIV is so hard to manage and why it spreads so rapidly in some parts of the world. fo a rough definition it is a mix of misleading beliefs, lack of knowledge, peer pressure, and fear. it leads to discrinination and therefore people lose their libves because their support systems crumble. the reason these women have fromed a group is for social support, community outreach and financial stability. Each women had thier own story of how HIV has effected their lives. Manyy lost thier husbands through death or abandomment many of thier children are also sick. this decreases thier econonic welfare and creates emotional trauma. community and family members often turn their back on people in kenya infected and therefore support groups are really important. our daily activities include jewly making, counseling, home visits to community mebers who are sick, planning education seminars for the community. the unique thing about the group of wmomen is that they are vocally speaking out about their status to fight stigma. stigma is so strong. last week i could not go to a bedriden patients house because a white person going to her home may signal that she has AIDS to her nieghbors causing larger problems. knowing ones HIV status is one of the first steps in fighting the spread of disease. i could really go on about how diifcult this simple thing can be i could talk for so long. i really care about the issue of HIV/AIDS. i feel lucky to be doing this work at this time of year when their are worldwide AIDS campaigns occurig. on the news everynight this week there has been an educational segment on AIDS. for every depressing factoid i hear about the disease a good thing also happens which leads me to belive that one day things will be what ever they will be. hehe. on the 1st kenya even had a gay and lesbian AIDS awarness day HUGE STEP! as a nurse i have seen health so differntly this past month. i really love public health, community health, home health even more than before. and maslows hierechy of needs is truly illustreated infromt of me daily. FOOD FIRST! the women i work with are on ARVs to stop the rate of growth of the virus inb their bodies. theses medicines are free to them abut food is not. so they have the medications for the disease but are often not able to eat. without nutrition how nuch can medciation do? well actually a lot the drugs work really well to help people living with the disease but you undersatnd right?
in the past month some political changes have occured that have forced us to change the place where we work, and the dynamics of the group. i have truly learned the meaning of empowerment and the value of working slow and listening. it is something i will take home with me. it has forced me to view aid work and volunteerism from several difernt angles. if you are praying please pray for a posiive impact, and patience, smart choices, and hope.
a crazy week. on friday i was invited to an aids seminar in kibera the second largest slum in the contient in africa. waht i learned. if you want kenyans to pay attention.... make a lot of noise!!! it was great to see. in my opinion, community heaklth at ists finest. they started with a coulpe of hundred people, a school band, and a huge puppet. when we got to the fairgrounds they had pry one thousand people gathrered. the organizers sang, danced, had drama, and a football, game to illustrate the information on the importantce of HIV testing and health. it was amzing! and of couarse hot!
the vert next day i travekd to a multimillion dollar home. the contrast was stunnjing. spemdiong one day in kibera with open swears and 1 million people and the next on a vast homesteaad with 6 cars, mango tress, and a talking parrot. the gap between rich and poor is so startiling and visible here.
i am just scratching the surface of some of the things i think about. i feel weird sharing so much on a blog because it is new to me. there are some really intamait( not sexy)things i would love to share about the experirence hera so we have coffee talk when i get home and i will talk your ear off.
i think about you everyday. thank you for your comments, texts, emails, prayers and good wishes. paula abdul is on the radio right now : "rush rush" so much fun in the basement on cantebury.
books i am reading:
so much ROald Dahl. my bother has a roald dahl treasury, THE BFG, GOING SOLO so good
invisilbe cure
half the sky thank you mary
just bought a book called half world away- yeah and it is referencing the OASIS song SCORE! BTW they are breaking up.
2006 readers digest
i really love hearing from you. i am so thankful for you.
TIM the TOolman ALLEN WISDOM: excerpt from 2006 readers digest
Leave every situation better than you found it
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving
HEY YALL!!!
Hope you are filling your bellies. I have the day off today. So it also feels like a holiday for me.
SOme science updates
Ther german plant is in the lead followed by englich and kiswahili. the plant with no song is grwoing the best. surprising data.
We had a community seminar on sat 57 people came. it was great. the best part was that mama grace came and spoke about stigma she is an hiv counseloer and she totally rocked. she was so mazing. it made me so proud to have her there. she also sugested that instead of using bananas we get a wooden penis made. i cant wait to show it to you.
wisah i was with you today. much more later. love you
Hope you are filling your bellies. I have the day off today. So it also feels like a holiday for me.
SOme science updates
Ther german plant is in the lead followed by englich and kiswahili. the plant with no song is grwoing the best. surprising data.
We had a community seminar on sat 57 people came. it was great. the best part was that mama grace came and spoke about stigma she is an hiv counseloer and she totally rocked. she was so mazing. it made me so proud to have her there. she also sugested that instead of using bananas we get a wooden penis made. i cant wait to show it to you.
wisah i was with you today. much more later. love you
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