9:50am     I have done nothing but love this place since I’ve been here but last night and today I saw some pretty harsh realities of life here.

Yesterday we returned home from a day that started at 2:30am traveling to and back from Kisumu and ended at 8:30pm.  I really wanted to eat because it had been about 10 hours since our last meal.  A boy in the compound was very sick when we got home and everyone turned to me for help.  His nose had been bleeding for 30 minutes, blood in his stool and some vomiting.  I’m no expert on Malaria, but this is not supposed to happen.  I found out that there was a 24-hour “clinic” and told them he needed medical attention immediately.  (If we hadn’t of come home, I don’t know if anyone would’ve taken him there).  He rode on the back of a bike with our security guard and Odoyo walked me with a bow and arrow.  The center was lit by one lantern, like from a horror movie (an unlit medical facility, which is way too quiet).  One nurse is working, but not in a hurry to do anything at all.  He gives a woman sutures with no anesthesia by lantern and then agrees to talk with us.  Turns out the nurse at Mama Maria hadn’t written down what medications he was on, so the nurse here wasn’t really sure what to do.  So he just gave him a new set of medications and it took 45 minutes to comprehend when the meds should be taken and what they were.  I did all the talking and wrote down everything he said just to be sure and I couldn’t read his handwriting. 

I wake up at 7am to make sure that he had taken his meds.  He’s vomiting and there’s blood in his vomit.  He can’t keep the pills down.  He needed to go to the hospital, and 1 hour later the ambulance arrives.  The driver was telling me about how he was driving a woman in labor to the hospital the last night and she gave birth on the way and the baby died so they just turned around and drove back.  What good is an ambulance without medical personnel or lifesaving equipment.  It’s just a slow matatu with less people.  This is everyday life here, people don’t expect an ambulance to come in less than an hour (if they can even afford to pay for it).  They really don’t ever expect for anything to get done quickly or any expectations at all about decent healthcare. 

I knew there would be hard days here and this is just one of many.  There’s just so much to do here and I think people need to realize that this small area is just one of numerous that are in the same situations.  It’s the worst that I come from a place where I know the possibilities that  are out there – so much more that can be done, but isn’t. 

But I did buy peanut butter in Kisumu, yes!