Life at Lea Toto

Finally got to actually talk to my parents last night on Skype. Although they could not see me. Mom still hasn't figured out that part :) Hopefully, by next Sunday they can figure it out and will be able to see my shining face. My dad asked me to talk more about my work and my mom asked me to take some pictures.

No problem talking about my work. I have just not had very much to say since I only started last Thursday. Big problem taking pictures. I explained my apprehension to my mom last night and she completely understood. As a white woman I would not feel comfortable pulling out an expensive looking (not really) camera in the middle of Kangemi slum to take pictures as if I was in a zoo. It's just not polite and I would be afraid of any consequences to my actions.

So work at Lea Toto is interesting. Lea Toto has several clinics across Nairobi, a children's home in Karen, and the village out by Kitui. I am stationed at Kangemi, which is an informal settlement not far from where we live. In all fairness, all of the informal settlements are not that far away, except for Mukuru. Kangemi is pretty large, but not as large as Kibera, which ranks in the top 5 largest slums in the world I think. Kangemi has about 100,000 residents, according to the best sources which are not that great. It's really hard to conduct a census in a slum, or so I have heard.

Today started off pretty rough. It was announced that we lost two clients over the weekend. One we had just discussed on Friday and that the family should take him to the hospital for care. They both died of complications due to HIV/AIDS. I had a conversation on Friday with the counselor at Kangemi about the most pressing problems at Lea Toto today. He was saying that most who have HIV/AIDS are prescribed medications, but not everyone who has medication takes them. The major reason for this is stigma. Neighbors know your business and if they know that a member of the family is HIV positive then they can ostracize you and your family. Even to the point of forcing you to move.

Let me just get this out in the open- no one does anything quickly in Kenya. I always feel as if I should be doing something at work then look around and realize that everyone else is taking tea. So I pull out a book and start reading. *If the clinic is busy, then we are working.*

Last side note- I was sitting in the office and heard a baby crying. I realized that the baby was there because it was HIV positive. What a sad world it was born into.

I went on 8 home visits in three hours with Paul, the intern, and a community health worker (CHW). We got in the truck and drove for about 20 minutes to the other side of Kangemi. At one point in the "road" the truck had to stop due to the awful condition of said "road." Pretty sure that if he had kept driving we would have either 1) fallen into the ravine or 2) been stuck in the mud. We walked along the road for awhile to get to our first visit.

Side note- (I lied, this is the last one)- It takes forever to walk anywhere in Kangemi because of the roads. I am constantly wondering where I should put my foot next. God help me if I am going downhill or uphill, like my morning and evening treks.

The first home visit was off the road, up a small hill, turn left at the clothes line, right at the sleeping dog, towards the crying baby, right at the old campfire, under the wooden poles, and through the metal-sheet and bed sheet doorway. By the way, all walkways off the road are only about 1-2 feet wide and usually have some water-like substance running down them. Can you picture that? Now live there. Seems impossible, right? Well, millions of people do it their whole lives. Feel like a horrible American yet? I do.

This post might have been a downer but there was so much goodness in the day too. Walking during the home visits I played with many children. All children from about 3-5 years know how to say "Hi, how are you?" In English and that's about it. As soon as they see me they all start screaming it at me. Very cute. Also, I got a lot of apologizing from random Kenyans when they saw my leg. Everyone gave me a second look to make sure that it was not fresh blood. Then, they all said "Sorry, I'm sorry sister!" Very nice of them to apologize for what that stupid mountain did to me :)

Something else to put this day into perspective- We went to one woman's home for a visit and she graciously invited us inside. She had just gotten home and kept apologizing for the state of her home because she was not expecting company. I kept saying that it looked great and she gave me the best smile ever. This area may just be "slums" to outsiders, but to those who live there, that is their home. They work hard to pay rent and keep it nice. The absolut least I can do is respect these people.