A Few Pics

We were able to load a couple of pictures...very slowly!

Here's the link we'll be using to post:

www.picasaweb.google.com/kgllghr

They are pictures of the Rift Valley in Kenya (just outside of Nairobi) and our house in Kowak!

African Killer Bees!

Happy Halloween!

So this morning we woke up and were too scared to leave our house because there was a huge swarm of African Killer Bees outside our door! Just yesterday, Fr. Jim was telling us all these horror stories about these African bees, about how they swarm around you, and you never just get stung by one, and that when they all sting you, you had better get to the hospital quick, or else you will swell up and die. You can imagine us when we woke up this morning, wanting to go the bathroom, and were too afraid to open the door due to the loud buzzing of a swarm of bees around our porch. Now, our house is set up so that when you walk out our front door, there is a porch that opens up to a small courtyard. Across the courtyard (about 10 ft) is our bathroom and the gate to get out. There is only one way out, we were trapped! Luckily, about 10 minutes later (after trying to brainstorm what we should do), one of the hospital watchmen walked by, so we called out to him and explained the situation, thankfully he was the one who speaks decent English. He told us to stay put, and went to get help. Fr. Jim wasn't around, so he brought the head doctor. After assessing the situation, he declared that the bees weren't acting "aggressive" and that it would be ok to walk out. So, fully garbed in close-toed shoes, long pants, and my rain jacket, I ventured out slowly (per the Dr, if you move slowly, they won't attack you), and made it out of the complex. Steph and Rach packed up stuff for the day, and we all got out safe and sound! We haven't been back yet, so hopefully the bees won't be too angry tonight when we go home. The story is you can only kill them during the night, so we'll see how that goes!

On a different note, our address here is:

Kowak Hospital

PO Box 28

Tarime, Tanzania

I guess it takes about 2-3 weeks for mail to get here. just saying. :-)

Arrived in Kowak!

Hey All!

We are alive and well in Kowak, Tanzania! We arrived in Kowak a week ago, and this is the first time we've successfully connected to the internet, hence the lack of communication! We are still working on getting a regular connection, so we'll see!

But a little update on life so far. Kowak= a few mud huts, a decent sized complex built by the Maryknolls(including a hospital, church, girls secondary school and some houses) and some dirt roads in the middle of nowhere! We are living in a 2 bedroom house with a little living room and a bathroom that's outside, connected by a fenced in courtyard. We are lucky enough to have electricty(when it doesn't go out), a sit-down toilet that flushes and running water (sometimes we even get a warm shower!)

So far we've mostly been spending our day working in the hospital and trying to learn Swahili. The hospital is a 30 bed facility, and it's pretty crazy. There are 5 Indian nuns, some Tanzanian nurses and 2 kindof Doctors who run the place. All have been very welcoming and fun to work with! Nursing here is definitely different than the states, we've already seen some insane things, but we'll have to save them for a later post! Most of the patients have Malaria or some other sort of infection. We are slowly getting the hang of things and learning a lot!

Not sure when we'll get on the internet again! As the parish priest here says, A.W.A- Africa Wins Again!!!!

So…day #3 in Africa:

Stephanie:

We’re already over jet lag, have made a few new friends, and none of us are sick yet! I’d say we’ve accomplished so much already. While we’re not (quite) fluent in Swahili yet, we’re getting close! We already know enough to get us laughed at for each attempt...well, at least we are bringing more joy to Africa…right?

I’ve realized I did come with a few pre-conceived ideas about this place. The first time I used a public toilet at the college where we are studying, it did not have a toilet seat. I thought, ‘here we go’, popped a squat, and only questioned whether or not I was allowed to flush the toilet paper. I decided against it due to bad experiences in other countries and went on with the day. I later asked these Kenyan girls that we’ve been paired up with whether or not I could flush toilet paper and they looked at me like I was crazy and told me ‘of course you can!’. So next time I used the toilet I was oober-excited at the prospect of flushing paper when, to my surprise, I see a toilet seat!! Turns out that I had picked the only toilet in the entire college with a broken toilet seat for my first bathroom experience! Haha- I just accepted it because I was prepared for crazy things to happen.

This situation happened again in the shower. After a few minutes, the water turned from ice cold to lukewarm and I thought, ‘here goes nothing’, took a deep breath, and jumped in. However, within five minutes the water was steaming hot. I was just too impatient and ready for crazy situations to try to figure things out. I’m pretty excited that all my preconceived ideas are making everything here seems amazing: toilet seats and hot water?!?! What else could you ask from Africa. So here’s my shout-out to the Maryknolls taking exceptional care of us (thanks!)

They have sent us to the Maryknoll Institute of African Studies (MAIS) for a three-day crash course in African religion and culture which has been amazing. We had classes in the morning, free lunch, then were paired with a Kenyan in the afternoon to go out into the community and discuss the themes from lecture. This has been the most amazing experience. I’m still processing the things I’ve done and seen, but I hope to be blogging about them in time!

Tomorrow we’re headed out to Kowak, Tanzania (a seven hour car ride), where the hospital we are working at will be! We’re very excited just to get where we’re going and be able to see what it is going to be like. (lacking toilet seats/hot showers perhaps?) Who knows? We will update you when we get settled in!

We made it!

Hamjambo from Kenya! We (rach, kat and steph) made it safe and sound to Nairobi, Kenya. We arrived Wednesday morning in once piece and with all of our luggage...something we were pretty excited about because we had some last minute flight delays and changes, including a layover in Dubai! Anywho, we had a driver waiting for us at the airport who took us straight to the Maryknoll house where we are staying. We arrived around 8:30am pretty jet lagged, but went straight to a three day course on African culture. It was a long day,but really interesting. We actually have to write a two page paper on what we learned, so we don' really have time to go into it now!

So far, it has been really good. Everyone has been very nice and helpful, and the Maryknolls have taken great care of us. We have our last day of class tomorrow,then head down to the village we will be working in. We're all excited to get to Tanzania!