Nakuru Town

1/21/10

This time at Lake Nakuru has been like a dream, and the MSID staff exposed us to some new things today to help us wake up a little and transition back to Nairobi. We went to Nakuru Town and everything was much more… real. Landscapes of lions and zebras were replaced with men so drunk (@10am) they were passed out in the middle of the road and children who smelled suspiciously of glue. It was an eye-opening experience, and I’m ready to see more.

Everyone got their internships yesterday, but I still don’t know what mine will be. The placement they had for me was a large government hospital near Mt. Kenya, but after discussing it with Abdul-Aziz and Jane I realized that it wasn’t the right fit for me and they’re going to try to find me a new placement. Nyeri, the area I was to be in, has lots of healthcare available, the people aren’t really in much poverty, and HIV isn’t much of an issue there. I really want to be in an underserved area, especially one where I will see the effects of AIDS in East Africa. The MSID staff works so hard to find us great internships so it was a really hard decision to speak up and ask for a change, but I realized that my time here in Kenya is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity—if I don’t speak up now, what will I ever speak up for?

It’s a great learning opportunity for me though, now I don’t know where I’ll be spending the last 6 week of the program and for a girl who gets somewhat anxious with uncertainty this is going to be a powerful lesson in letting things flow and finding my peace despite not knowing what form it takes.

Nakuru Market... I bought the best mango of my life from the lady in blue.

With a boy from the Obiek tribe up in the Mau Forest mountains. The kids there had never seen white people before... we chatted in Swahili a bit and he tentatively touched my skin a few times.