What I have been up to!-5

December 26, 2011

Hello Everyone,

Its been a while since I last wrote and so much has happened.

We were evacuated to Nairobi, Kenya following a security situation about 2 weeks ago.

While in Nairobi, I visited the Nairobi Wildlife Park- Safari Walk, Kenya National Archives and the Kitengele Glass Factory. I also visited friends- One a Nigerian couple whom I had never met who took me under their wing and took me visiting with them twice and I had the pleasure of eating Kenyan, Malawian and Italian foodJ ( I know I love good food).

I met my former room mate from the states who is Kenyan and lives in Kenya now. I also met a classmate of mine from Grad school who invited me for a Japanese meal on ‘Shujja’ day which is a new public holiday to celebrate the lives of the heroes of Kenya. I also went with her to the Kitengele Glass factory. We had a great time though we learnt after a 1 hour trip in the wrong direction that the Glass factory is not in Kitengele town!!! I have attached pictures of my trips around Nairobi. Its a beautiful place and much cooler than where I am coming from. Its one city that makes you think of hanging up your boots and spending time in, a lifetime if you please!

We spent over a week in Nairobi and are now back to base! In those few days we left, the town has changed so much. It started raining about 2 days before we left and its been raining cats and dogs since then. The locals say it has not rained like this for a very long time. Usually it rains for a few days and that is it but it has been raining day and night for over 2 weeks. We have had to go everywhere in gum boots. Everywhere is so green! But the heat is still the same once the rain is over.

We arrived to an increasing number of cholera cases ( I called them Acute Watery Diarrhoea in my last email). We have a rapid test kit and all the persons coming in (except one) have positive tests. I treated my first cholera case about 2 weeks into my stay and it was severe. Its not a very exciting disease to have or to treat. So coming back and seeing our wards full of cases was enough to sink my spirits.

The logisticians have erected tents and a fence to make our Cholera Treatment Center. All the cases except a few are from one village. We hear they have many more cases than we do and Im hoping and praying the numbers do not rise and we do not see any local cases.

Life is okay though I have had a hard time sleeping thanks to my very over active imagination and all the sounds and noises around me. Like I told my dad and sister, I have become the third nightwatchman in our compound. I will never take for granted sleeping in a bedroom within four solid walls again. Sleeping in a tent is okay until the noises invade your sleep. I have woken up several nights in a row to the sound of donkeys braying, hyenas screaming, crickets chirping and cats fighting and crying out in shrill voices that sound more like hyenas. The other day I was woken up by two cats fighting just outside my tent, I was convinced I had a pack of hyenas in my tentJIt took sometime for my heart beat to return to its normal pace and rhythm.

I have 13 or so days more to go. I’ll be glad when its over but there is a lot I will miss about it. I will miss all the lovely people I have made friends with- Quoresho the cook who is one jolly person to be around, she does not speak any english and I do not speak any somali worth hearing and yet we understand ourselves totally. She always has a smile on her face and she jokes a lot. Mohammed the nightwatch man who calls me ‘Tomsie’, I have a hard time understanding anything he tells me but I certainly appreciate his smiles and laughter, Pauline and Cecilia, 2 great nurses who work tirelessly day and night and go over and beyond their call of duty, Simon one of our drivers who is extremely helpful and is always eager to help me out, Mohammed a clinical officer who tried all sorts of tricks to dodge presenting at our clinical meetings and eventually gave a lovely presentation on ‘Scorpion bites’ a few days after he had been stung by the terrible creature. Madi, Sam, and Peter the other members of the team who speak french and swahili and have been responsible for my dusting my high school french.

The many patients whose smiles and thank you’s made my day, M the baby on therapeutic milk who I still see almost on a daily basis slung cross wise on his mums back looking fatter and fatter. The residents of the town who I pass on the streets and recognize from previous consultations.........................If I do not stop now Ill probably bore you all to death.

I may or may not write another note but just in case I don’t I want to thank everyone for reading these mails. Thank you for letting me fill up your boxes with my missives, thank you for your lovely replies and letting me share titbits of news from your own lives as well. In the local language - I say Mahad Sanid (Thank you very much), may the next few weeks be filled with joy and laughter and pleasant memories.