Nduriri

We drove out to a rural clinic in Nduriri yesterday. We were scheduled to leave at 8:30am, but in typical African fashion we left about an hour late. Here's Isaac with Obonyo, one of the interns, in front of KH.


After more than an hour of bouncing around over rocks in an old-school Land Rover converted into an ambulance, we finally arrived in the small town of Nduriri. The clinic was a small concrete building covered in chipping paint with patients lining the hallways. The place is run by a few hard-working nurses who use dirty index cards taped together as patient charts. After a few hours of seeing patients, the nurses put together an amazing lunch with plenty of chai. Kenyan food is really really good.


Speaking of lunch, these aren't bottles of rubber bands...


After lunch, Isaac was wandering around outside taking pictures when he was spotted by a few of the kids at a nearby elementary school.


Seconds later, dozens of kids come streaming out of the school gate and mob Isaac.


I forced them to take a picture with me too.


We walked over to the school, where more kids came running out to meet us. They were fascinated by the muzungus -- and by Isaac's digital camera. We showed them pictures of themselves and they went CRAZY. It was hilarious. They also sang songs for us and had a blast giving us high-fives. The best was when you said "Habari!" they would respond with "Mzuri!" in unison. Even as we left and the kids were forced to return to the classrooms, they were piled on top of each other screaming and waving goodbye to us through the windows.


After getting back to KH, it was soon time for call. The call nights are so busy that now we both go on call together -- how is one intern and one M4 supposed to cover an entire 250-bed hospital!? We have to evaluate the truckloads of people coming into the casualty while checking up on seizing babies, dealing with drunk trauma victims and declaring people dead. It gets crazy.