Just FYI

I posted a few of our videos on my Facebook profile, including one with Isaac slitting the goat's throat at Givan's. Check it out.

Maasai Mara

What an incredible weekend. Adan, our guide, showed up early on Saturday morning to pick us up in a huge old-school Land Cruiser. Took about two hours on smooth highway to reach Narok, below, and then another three hours of bumpy dirt roads to reach the Sekenani Camp.

We were mobbed by very aggressive Maasai salespeople when we reached the Mara gate.

The private tents were awesome.

Yeah. I now realize that we have almost 500 pictures between the three of us and that this is going to take way too long. So here are my favorite pictures -- I'll post more on Facebook later.

We were charged at by elephants twice.

The Mara was beautiful. There were lots of cool birds.

Breakfast in the Mara.

This guy below got up and walked within a couple feet of our window. And then he led us to a group of bushes, where a dozen other lions were passed out in the shade. Some were out cold, like with all four paws sticking straight up in the air.

We saw lots of lion cubs. Thought about stealing one but we didn't want to die.

Chilling on the roof. Jason and I got REALLY sunburned. Kenya is just under the equator and the sun is no joke. My face and shoulders are still in major pain.

We were lucky enough to see this leopard on two days. He had an antelope carcass resting on another limb.

One cheetah is peeing on the tree and the other is taking a dump.

Ok the rest I'll post somewhere else. Below is us playing Settlers of Catan, which was introduced to us by Joel and Melissa, two of our housemates in Kijabe. We were quickly addicted. When we weren't on game drives, you could count on us being planted on the tent porch playing Settlers. I am winning-challenged in this game, which is fine cause the game sucks and is stupid.

The game even survived an attempted kidnapping/eating by a baboon who tore up the bag holding all the pieces, shredded the card-holding box and then stuffed it between rafters in the ceiling of our tent. Fortunately, the game pieces were largely unscathed other than a couple bite marks.

What an experience. Definitely the coolest thing we did in Kenya. On the way home, we stopped by Maai Mahiu to check out the local nyama choma scene. Roasted goat is like a national obsession in Kenya.

Delicious. And it was nice to not have to eat it off the ground this time.

Isaac and I are actually already back in the states, staying overnight in Pearl River before heading back to Chicago. Looks like there's a big snowstorm coming into NY tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. Praise God for bringing us back safely so far.

Safari Time

It's been a while since our last update. We will be heading off to Maasai Mara for safari in about thirty minutes and then coming back Monday evening. Despite last-minute haggling and phone tag, it's finally going to happen.

Isaac and I are starting to get sick of Kenyan food. Beef stew, cabbage and ugali are delicious -- but after almost a month of beef stew, walking into the cafeteria and smelling it cooking will get the gag reflex going. That being said, our morning ndazis are still delicious and still only ten shillings (like 15 cents). What I would do for some Sushi Para.

There are a lot of stories from this past week, but there isn't much time so we'll blog more about them later. We watched as a man was beat up by a mob right outside the hospital entrance because the man stole a cell phone on a matatu. Our driver-friend Wilson explained that the police are too corrupt to trust and the thief should have been killed.

I also saw two patients die on my last day in the hospital (which seems to only be a big deal to those fresh from the states), including a 4-month-old baby I was taking care of. The boy had a history of hydrocephalus s/p EVD and was here with ventriculitis, seizures we couldn't control and probable pulmonary tuberculosis. The mom was probably around twenty or in her late teens. What do you say other than offer to pray for her and her son? The worst was watching her slowly walk out of the hospital by herself.

Ok time to go. We'll update later.

Nairobi

We took a trip to Nairobi today -- and in the process decided to check out the much-hyped matatu experience. We have this travel book lying around our house that describes matatus as minivans that are "luridly painted, covered in slogans and flashing lights, pounding out deafening rap music and driven at death-defying speeds by aggressive young men, the result of which was one of the highest road death rates in the world." The book says things have improved, but that description is pretty accurate. On our way there, they crammed twenty people into our little minivan (one man hung onto the back of the van). It was ridiculous.


At every stop, a number of people would shove bags of various fruits and corn into the van through open windows and yell at you. Jason has trouble saying no and ended up with a bag of extremely bitter (what Kenyans call sour) plums. In the middle is Michael, one of the interns, who is the only reason we dared to try taking a matatu.


Don't let the peaceful picture fool you. Nairobi is crazy. Too many people, too many cars, and with all the matatus whizzing around, it's a wonder we didn't see anyone get run over today. That being said, it's a cool place. Isaac and I plan on spending another day here before we head back to the states.


Michael says that this is a famous building.


After walking around downtown a while, we reached the Maasai market. Thank God Michael was there to protect us from the hordes of salespeople harassing anyone white (which includes me and Isaac). If you look closely, you can see that Jason has already been captured by one such salesperson.


These Maasai women were mad Jason took their picture without paying.


Lots of cool stuff and lots of negotiating. Reminded me of a night market in Taipei or Beijing.


Afterwards, Michael left us to go sleep at his brother's place (he was post-call) and we were left to our own devices. We took a matatu to Longata to find this restaurant called Carnivore (quite a feat in itself) and walked in only to find that their famous exotic game meats would not be served until late in the evening. Unfortunately, Nairobi and even the road to Kijabe aren't safe after dark, so after a long discussion about whether or not we wanted to be robbed we decided to find a way back to the matatu stand downtown to catch the one matatu that goes to Kijabe.


While we were still stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic back in the city, Jason made up a game where you get points for reaching out the window and touching other cars. The game ended tied at 1-1. It's a lot scarier when the cars start moving faster and people tend to look at you funny when you're reaching out at their car.


I guess our day sounds boring but it was quite the adventure. Matatus are scary and uncomfortable, especially on a bumpy dirt road at night. I wouldn't be devastated if I never rode a matatu ever again.

Unfortunately, Isaac is on call tomorrow so we'll be back in the hospital. It's unbelieveable that we are leaving in just ten days -- it seems like we just got here.

Givan's Village

Today we went to Givan's house to learn the ways of the Maasai. A half-Maasai, half-Kikuyu man named Wilson stopped by our house early in the morning to pick us up. Givan was waiting for us along the side of the highway with his piki-piki. Jason and I were initially jealous that Isaac got to ride with him.


Too bad the bike got stuck in the sand. Givan's house was pretty far out there, so I'm glad we didn't do what Givan had initially suggested -- take a mutatu and then walk for a couple hours.


Givan first showed us his goats.


Then we released them for some grazing. It was nice -- ultimate job for chillers. Goats make annoying noises.


Younger brother Matthew, Givan, Isaac and I enjoying a cup of chai made with very fresh goat's milk. Probably not a great medical decision. Givan just got promoted to security manager at RVA, so our visit was his way of celebrating.


This is the kitchen for the families that live here. I'm glad I drank the chai before I looked inside.


Picking out lunch.


Ahh, the poor goat's final moments. We look a little too happy.


The way the guy on the left, one of Givan's friends, slit the goat's throat and bled him was amazing. Surgeon's hands. You can see two colorful bangles on the man's wrists, each of which signifies a wife. He has two -- polygamy is still pretty common among Maasai. That's why Givan doesn't know how many brothers he has (he says over ten).


Cutting out the kidneys for a quick snack. That's where we drew the line -- no raw organs filled with goat urine.


Matthew blowing up the lungs.


Our favorite of the day -- roasted goat ribs, nyama choma. So delicious.


When the meat is ready, one of the guys grabs it and throws it on the ground on top of some leaves. But after the fourth or fifth piece of meat, there are hundreds of flies swarming around the leaves, our food and the Maasai sword they used to cut it up. Sometimes you just can't think about things too much.


The men brought over a metal pot to boil some of the innards.


Organs with frothy green stomach contents -- delicious.


The stomach was definitely the single most disgusting thing we ate. This picture was taken after I had already scooped out most of the mushy green stuff. I felt like Bear Grylls.


Waiting for more meat. Now we understand why slaughtering a goat and eating it is a day-long affair.



Our goat fed around a dozen people. These two schoolboys even came to pick some up for their teacher. I was doubtful at first, but there was a lot of meat on our little goat.


The whole time the men were out in the field eating the goat, the kids and women were back by the houses eating chapati and potatoes.


We returned to Givan's house only to find that his wife Jackie had prepared another meal of chapati, cabbage, potatoes and more goat meat. Surprised none of us exploded in a cloud of goat parts.


The kids liked us. It's interesting -- in Maasai culture, kids have to ask for your blessing before they are allowed in your presence. So kids will walk up to you with their head bowed waiting for you to touch their head, which means that you allow them to be there.


Everywhere we go, the kids can't get enough of seeing themselves on our digital cameras. Note the flies, which were everywhere. They especially love the babies, which is kind of wack cause the babies are wrapped up and can't fight them off.


The one on the far right is one of Givan's twins, Lydia. The others are his younger brother's kids.


Givan laughs while Jason and I suffer from severe food coma on the way home.


What a great day. Tomorrow we go to Nairobi with one of the interns, Michael. We'll be taking a mutatu into Nairobi, so pray for our safety. The power went out fifteen minutes ago so I'm going to sleep.

Siyaipei

We just got back from dinner with a couple of the full-time missionaries here. They're from Taiwan and have been living here with their family for six years. It was nice to eat Chinese food and get lectured about how dangerous Kenya is -- Isaac and I agreed that they are typical Asian parents, except that they live in Africa. Awesome people.

We spent the day at a clinic in Siyaipei, a very small town in Maasai land. We barely had time to buy a couple ndazis (fried dough) from the cafeteria for breakfast before we were hurried into the ambulance to head out around 8am. This was the first time anything here has happened on time since we have been in Kenya.


Shortly after our hour and a half drive along the Rift Valley floor, it was already time for morning chai. Here we are in the clinic kitchen with Jeremiah, who oversees all the rural clinics, and Stephen, one of KH's nutritionists.


I kept on hearing a bell ringing the whole morning, which made more sense when I looked out the window of the exam room.


Below is a kid with all of the physical exam findings associated with rickets, like he came out of a textbook. Most of our patients were Maasai, who traditionally herd cattle and goats, and apparently when lunch time rolls around and they're thirsty they'll milk their cows for a quick drink. So brucellosis is pretty common here -- and is something I know nothing about. We saw a ton of kids today, which is understandable in a country where the average age is around twenty years.


The best part of rural clinic is always the food. Here we are with the amazing chefs.


Jason, Stephen, Dr. Swanson, me, Isaac and Jeremiah at the end of the day.


Most of today's trip ran on a new highway through Maai Mahiu and Suswa. So smooth that sleeping was actually possible.


A couple nights ago, a man wearing a blood-stained shirt ran into the casualty carrying an unconscious boy bleeding from a number of lacerations on his head. We later figured out that the man was the one who hit the boy with his motorcycle. Aside from the fact that the man runs into the casualty only to find me and Isaac, even more absurd is that after running through the ABCs a few times, there wasn't much more we could do other than watch and pray. He didn't die and it seems like he's improving in the ICU, but it makes you wonder how the boy would have done had he been brought into an ER in Chicago.

One of the new attendings has been encouraging me to take pictures of my patients who have weird pathology. It feels wrong, so I only did it once. This is a kid with Burkitt's lymphoma. It was huge. But the kid was up the next day running around the peds ward.


We're taking the next two days off. Looks like we'll be going to Givan's tomorrow (he says to bring a lot of sugar, I think it's a gift for the village) and then Nairobi to check out the Maasai market on Saturday. Should be awesome.