Weekend

I had a very lazy Saturday and stayed home all day. Got a few things done that was necessary on the computer; updating posts, filing an insurance claim etc. Some of the volunteer girls were going on a hike up to a top the mountain and they sent me pictures it was beautiful , but they

said it was pretty hard and they’re going to be on ibuprofen a couple days.

Caren the dentist here is from India and she was going to make us an Indian dinner. So she came over about five and we started preparing our chicken with turmeric. cloves, cinnamon lots of garlic, onion and mixed with coconut milk. It was quite good and we ate it over rice. The mixture of spices just made it so good and the girls stayed till about eight we had a nice time visiting. 2 of the volunteers are leaving Tue. We are going to miss each other!

Sunday I decided to walk into town town which they call the center. If you call it town they think you’re going all the way down to Eldoret. (about a 2 hour drive with the speed bumps all along the paved roads)

I stopped and looked at the progress of the house they’re building and it’s coming along fast. You can see now where they’re putting light switches and the plumbing where the bathroom is going and the beautiful back porch will have that view!

I walked to center (probably a half mile or so) and I began seeing people coming home from church dressed up real pretty. I heard there was an Assembly of God church in town so I thought I’d try to find it. I followed the directions and sure enough I heard singing down there so I went in and I hear this nice little choir singing of adults but it turned out it was the Catholic Church and this was their choir practice! They were so happy to see me, "welcome, welcome, welcome" , I heard over and over from the beautiful ladies all dressed pretty. Some had a scarf wrap type thing on their head. Then the choir leader wanted to introduce me to the priest and show me around the school. This was actually a school and church grounds. They start at age 4 and it goes through grade 8. From six year old on up the children live there at the school. The boys had a dorm on one side the girls on another. The choir director showed me the new church they are building, and the class rooms. Said they have 206 students and 11 teachers.

The priest came out of his board meeting to visit with me. He invited me to come and teach a class to the girls.

This is something that has been on my heart and I don't know if I'll have time this week. I've often wondered about the young girls that come in the labor room, if they have any educations about their bodies and how things work. Do they know what is happening as they have this baby? Heath classes in Jr high and High school can be the start I was thinking.

We had a very nice talk and then he wanted to introduce me to the whole board meeting that they were in the middle of!!! So different then America! So laid back without the time restraints.

They had bags of corn that they bring out to the poor in the hills and so it was nice to see that they take care of the community. The choir director wants me to come back with my email address so they can stay in touch and set things up for teaching next time I come back! 😀

I never did find this Assembly of God church but I walked around a bit in the "center" and it’s funny how people already recognize me and I’ve only been here a few weeks. Some even know me by name.

There were a few shops open. I bought some toilet paper from a little girl on the road, not that i needed any but i felt like she could use a sale standing out in the heat all day.

I bought some cilantro and garlic. Looked at all the huge tubs of grains and beans.

Huge bags of millet, 2 different kinds! A huge bag of tiny little dried fish. Lots of beans and lentils!

On my way back I stopped in the labor room to see what was going on in there and it seem like they were having a slow day, although the nurse said she already delivered two babies. I said well that’s not very slow and she said, one Christmas they had 25 babies and they were all girls except for the one born at 2 AM was a boy, so two babies to her is nothing. 😳

She was in my class and really enjoyed it, she brought up some really good points and things that she’d like to see changed. I should’ve asked her if she followed through with some of those things to do them differently, like skin to skin. I know for an older nurse like that, the changes won't come easy. But if they see and hear about the good changes enough, possibly step by step there will be some changes.

Total it was only a 2 mile walk altogether but I felt pretty tired when I got home, probably because of the heat and the hills.