Epic fails in Kenya

Kristopher and I have lived in ten different homes during our nearly twelve years of marriage. That doesn't include short periods of time where we lived in someone else's home (eg with my parents this summer). We've actually had rental leases on 9 different residences, and owned our home in Utah (by far our longest stay in any one residence). Adjusting to a new home, new neighborhood, new city is ALWAYS a challenge. Adjusting to a new continent, country, and culture is all the more challenging. We've done our best, but some of our failures have been comical (maybe not at the time, but in retrospect...). Here are a few examples:

Dominic wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday. I thought this was a great time to use the bundt pan I brought back after Andrew and Elyssa's wedding. The result looked a little like a donut (okay, a lot like a donut) but that's okay - donuts are a real treat here.

(See donut shaped thing with stars exploding out of it, back row)

Today, I was craving chocolate and decided to make the cake again. I probably should not have substituted vanilla yogurt for sour cream. The result is still tasty, but somehow even less aesthetic...

One late night in Nairobi, I completely forgot everything I had ever learned in chemistry class and set a glass bowl in the sink to wash the dishes. In went the boiling water from the kettle, next the cold water from the sink...

Most women in the US are counseled to undergo c-section if their baby is breech (meaning bottom first, not head first). However, in Kenya, vaginal breech delivery is more common. I was called to the delivery room one day out of my clinic for a breech delivery. The woman had arrived completely dilated with the baby's little bottom already visible, so we checked the baby's heart rate (normal) and proceeded to deliver the baby. Only after the baby was delivered and required significant help breathing did we realize there were in fact TWO babies, and the normal heart rate we had heard was from the (previously undiagnosed) TWIN! Both babies did fine. And just in case you're wondering how often that could possibly happen - the exact same scenario played out again less than two months later!

One of our first trips to the market ("soko") in Kapsowar, we bought some unripe bananas. They sat on our counter for at least a month before Gladys, our house helper, told us that those bananas are for cooking, and they would never turn yellow.

After our "exile" in Eldoret, one of the last things we did was stop at the mall to load up the car with groceries. I first went to the fruit and veggie market and spent over $20 US on fruit and veggies. That might not sound like a lot, but in Kenya, that's a LOT of fruit. Not wanting it to spoil in the hot car, I left it at the "bag check" area of the grocery store. I remembered that I needed to pick it up - about 4 hours later, when we were finally back in Kapsowar. Amazingly, our neighbor Mike had to go to Eldoret the next day, stopped by the grocery store, and returned with my full bag of groceries!

Try as I might, I cannot keep straight the Swahili words for bottle ("chupa") and underwear ("chupi"). It's an embarrassing mistake when all you want is some bottled water at a restaurant!

On our return from Andrew and Elyssa's wedding, Kristopher and Dominic both wanted to sleep on the second flight (Frankfurt to Nairobi). This flight departed Frankfurt around 10am and arrived in Nairobi around 11pm, and they slept the ENTIRE flight. Great - until Dominic was jumping around our hotel room at 3am, having run out of snacks and activities and still raring to go!

Now for a few successes:

Termites are ubiquitous after an evening rain. They are attracted to light, and will crawl through the tiniest cracks under doors or windows to get into your house. At first it was really gross, then it became a sort of game to see how quickly we could kill them when they came in. (Termites, for the record, don't really squish like other insects. You just have to give them a good quick whack, and they're done for.) Feeling lazy one night, I took off my flipflop and hurled it across the room, knocking a termite out of midair. Ten points! Dominic has been trying to replicate that heroic feat ever since, with minimal success. If you enter our house after a rain, watch out for flying footwear!

I'm not sure if this is a success for an American living abroad, or a failure of American culture; for culture day at language school, I made this rendition of "Snicker salad." I used genuine snickers, apples, and grapes, but the closest thing to Cool Whip I could find was strawberry flavored "Dream Whip."

I think I've already shared this picture on our blog but it bears repeating: talking Dominic into wearing his bathrobe and a free eye mask from Delta for a Halloween costume was a major success!

Turning this:

Into this:

For $30 USD!

I hope you've enjoyed a chuckle along with us. We pray daily for our friends and family all over the world during this really strange and difficult time, and we appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and encouragement as well. Blessings, and stay well!

Kim

Post Residents Retreat at Lake Naivasha

We just returned from a wonderful, relaxing, rejuvenating retreat at beautiful Lake Naivasha, Kenya with our fellow Post-Residents and many of the World Medical Mission team from the US. The theme of the retreat was "Boundaries." In short, we were encouraged to set healthy boundaries that help us to thrive as individuals and families, so that we can avoid the burnout which is so common in the medical field in general, and in the developing world in particular. My favorite analogy from the weekend was from Dr. Jim Ritchie (Chogoria Hospital), who compared setting personal boundaries to a river:

A river within its boundaries has direction, is powerful, and is life-giving. A river without boundaries, on the other hand, can be destructive.

Every morning we enjoyed sessions with the World Med folks, and our afternoons were free to enjoy the beautiful resort and explore the area. We really enjoyed taking a boat out to Crescent Island (technically now a peninsula, not an island) and going on a "walking safari."

Obviously we didn't take this aerial shot, but it shows how Crescent Island got its name...

Crescent Island was previously uninhabited by much wildlife, but in the 1980s several species of animals were brought to the island for the filming of "Out of Africa." After the film was completed, the lions were removed from the island but the other species were left and the park was established. You can drive or boat to the "island" and walk quite close to all the animals, including zebra, giraffe, water buck, wildebeest, Thompson's gazelle, impala, flamingo, and several other species that I don't remember. There are hippos as well which you should NOT walk up to, and at night hyenas are known to cross over into the park and keep the animal population under control.

Thanks so much to our wonderful friends at World Medical Mission who put on a lovely retreat and are always encouraging and supportive! And speaking of support, thanks to our supporters who helped fund Kris and Dominic's travel expenses to and from the retreat!

With love,

Kim, Kristopher and Dominic

Home again

We arrived back in Kapsowar on Sunday evening and have jumped right back into our busy lives here...Kris preparing classes (hasn't taught yet due to an impromptu holiday to celebrate former president Moi), Kim at the hospital, Dominic apparently rolling in dust and mud all day, and Nala finding mischief wherever she goes. Thanks for all your words of encouragement the last few weeks! It's good to be home!

-Kim

A season of receiving

Most people think of the time between (“American”) Thanksgiving and New Years as a season of giving. We’re inundated with messages and advertisements pushing us to give the right gifts this holiday season. This year, however, Kristopher, Dominic and I have been going through a season of receiving. Of course there have been many times in our lives when we have received more than we have given. This season, however, has been particularly humbling. As “strangers in a foreign land” we have so little to give back. It feels like all we do is receive, receive, receive. This blog post is dedicated to publically thanking all those people who have given so much to us, in big acts and small, over the past few months – our gratitude is all we can offer for now, and our promise that while we will never be able to pay you back, we will do our best to pay it forward.


Our sincerest thanks, in no particular order, to:

• Several missionaries in Nairobi who befriended us during a difficult transition, welcomed us into their homes, showered us with food, rides to the grocery store, encouragement and insights
• Dominic’s teachers and school principal in Nairobi who were warm and welcoming even though we were there for only 12 weeks, and who made Dominic’s transition to Kenya fun and memorable
• A former co-resident who made a generous donation in advance to cover my student loans for the whole year
• Kristopher’s parents who agreed to meet us in Washington during our brief visit for my brother’s wedding, so that we wouldn’t have to get on another plane to visit them in Montana
• Our church in Salt Lake City who surprised us with a care package of thoughtful gifts and encouraging messages, sent via a short-term volunteer
• Our new co-workers and neighbors in Kapsowar who have been kind, patient, and supportive as we learn the basics of our new community – from how to get water and electricity, to reminding me for the 10^th time how to order labs correctly
• A volunteer who welcomed us to our new home with flowers and house-warming gifts, and has invited Dominic over for dinner several times so that Kristopher and I can relax for the evening
• Our many friends at World Medical Mission for their support, both emotional and logistical

Finally, since no blogpost is complete without picture, our thanks to our new sister-in-law Elyssa, for agreeing (for reasons unknown) to marry my little brother Andrew. We returned to North America briefly in December/January to celebrate with them. Again the pictures in no particular order, because reorder pictures is tedious :)

 We celebrated Christmas a little late with Grandma and Grandpa in Birch Bay

 Dominic and his cousin Ben were ring bearers

 Reception at the Victoria Flight Museum

Sleeping it off on the flight back to Nairobi

 

Sleeping it off at the reception too...

Much love to you all!
Kristopher, Kim, and Dominic

Welcome to Labor and Delivery!

I'm struggling to find the words to describe how it feels to walk into "my" office and finally begin working after twenty years - literally, twenty years! - of moving toward this goal. Most days, it feels good! Other days, I wonder if I'm really prepared for this. And some days, I know that my only victory is going to be ridding my office of a few more spiders and dead moths. Which, I have to say, is quite satisfying. 

Thanks to a very generous donation from some friends of the hospital, our labor and delivery area is in the early stages of a major upgrade! So far we have received new labor and delivery beds and some bili lights. Tiling of the floor and walls, a new gyne exam bed, new lights, and other upgrades are coming. Previously, the beds on labor and delivery were just cots - no ability to break down the bed for delivery, no stirrups (well, one bed out of four had stirrups, but they didn't work), covered with rust, no siderails. We received four brand new beds which are much more comfortable for both the patient and the delivering provider. Remember that in Kenya, only 44% of deliveries are attended by a skilled provider. That doesn't mean 44% of deliveries are in a hospital where monitoring or c-section are available, just that someone has received training on maternal and neonatal care, and should have some knowledge of how to refer to a hospital if necessary. Our upgrades will allow us to take better care of our patients and hopefully will draw more patients in to receive skilled care.

This is labor and delivery! New curtains are also planned - we think we'll be able to afford some better hooks (these are bent wire clothes hangers)

Our nurse midwives are excited about sitting down and having good visualization for their repairs!

I swear, I did not ask Dominic to sit this way. He just jumped up on the bed and assumed the position! 

I am so thankful for the generous donation that made this upgrade possible. Stay tuned for more pictures as we continue to make upgrades. 

Kim