Third Time's a Charm
Saturday, June 7th
Today we all awoke between 9 and 10, ate breakfast and got ready for the day. We had a demo planned at CYEC with visitors from the Ministry of Health, as well as Canadian student who was working on HIV/AIDS research in Nairobi. We walked over to the CYEC around 10:30, and as James described in an earlier blog it is a refreshing and vivid walk every time you take it. Each time we traverse to the CYEC we notice something new, whether it be a bushel of brightly colored flowers weaving around a barbed wire fence, or the crazy juxtaposition of a cow chewing grass outside a small wooden house that has a satellite dish. There are also many interesting people you encounter along the way -An older woman carrying wood back to her home, school children chanting “how are you, how are you” as you pass by, the old man watching his grazing animals who rambles in Kikuyu to which you politely smile and nod. Every situation provides laughter, if you can look up long enough not to stumble on the protruding rocks that make the walk part obstacle part entertainment. Anyway, once we got to the CYEC the kiosk and BioE teams got the demo set up in the clinic. The rest of us took the opportunity to play with the kids. I cannot say enough about the children at the CYEC from the small 3 year olds to the older vocational students, every one of them has the ability to brighten your day which is why most of us seize every spare moment to be around them. After some rousing games of tiga, tiga, samba, sharks and minnows, and freeze tag we returned to find out the ministry of health still had not arrived (not so shocking once you have become accustomed to the African pace of time). With that we all broke for lunch, some of us headed back to ivory to do some documentation work while others stayed at CYEC to wait for the ministry of health.
By 4 all hopes of the ministry of health showing up had faded and we packed up the kiosk for the day. One of the most comical events of the day occurred when Khanjan ordered spaghetti for dinner at the hotel. After incorrectly making his dish twice, Khanjan escorted the chef into the kitchen where he provided him with a cooking lesson. Many of us scattered to the window of the kitchen where we were able to witness this hilarious altercation. The third dinner was a winner much to the happiness of the chef, who probably had his share of visitors in the kitchen. After dinner we had a free evening to enjoy however we wished, hotel Ivory was packed with guests that had attended a conference for the day so the hotel was bustling with activity. Most headed up to the bar area and enjoyed Tuskers and music. Everyone has really appreciated the down time we’ve had recently. After some pretty intensive work days it has been worthwhile to sit back and absorb the Kenyan community we have spent so much time in. With our time winding down here, we all have been making a point to soak up every bit of time Kenya we can!
-Julia
